4558 Birds. 



readily, it is well to soften them in warm water before immersion in the salt. A speedy 

 impregnation will then take place, after which the specimens, if plants, may be 

 subjected to moderate pressure in the usual way, and restored to the herbarium, 

 while other specimens may be kept on shelves, or in any way usually employed for 

 similar objects, and all will, for any length of time, retain sufficient moisture to 

 prevent brittleness. The salt being neutral, no fear need be apprehended of its 

 injuring colour or texture, while its antiseptic properties will aid in the preservation of 

 matters liable to decay. — From ' Silliman's Journal.'' 



Rare Birds killed near Scarborough. — The following rare birds have lately been 

 killed in our neighbourhood : — one red-necked phalarope, fourteen gray phalaropes, 

 five stormy petrels, four little auks, four purple-backed sandpipers, one red-throated 

 diver (mature), one female goosander. On the 25th of November, a noble female 

 specimen of the gyr-falcou was shot near Robin Hood's Bay, on the moors of Sir John 

 Johnstone, M.P.: the bird is in the finest adult plumage: beak pale blue ; cere wax- 

 yellow ; hides black ; head, neck, breast and lower part of body white : upper parts 

 are white, sparingly marked with arrow streaks of black pointing downwards: the tail 

 has no bars, but is white; legs yellow; talons brown: the crop was overloaded with 

 the entrails of some animal, most probably a hare; the stomach with the feathers of 

 grouse and portions of the grouse. The length of this majestic bird, from the point of 

 the beak to the end of the tail, was 20f inches ; full extent of wings when opened, 

 3 feet 10 inches; weight, 3 lbs. 3 oz. Sir John Johnstone has forwarded the bird to 

 me to be preserved. — Alfred Roberts; King Street, Scarborough, December 1, 1854. 



Occurrence of the Short-toed Lark (Alauda brachydactyla) and of the Lapland 

 Bunting (Emberiza Lapponica) in Sussex. — Mr. Swaysland, of Brighton, the fortunate 

 captor, as recorded in the ' Zoologist' for this month, of the Sylvia galactotes (? galac- 

 todes), possesses a short-toed lark and a Lapland bunting, both which were caught in 

 lark nets in the neighbourhood of Brighton, and were kept alive for a time. — Arthur 

 Hussey ; Rottingdean, November, 1854. 



Note on the congregation of Sivallows. — About the 14th of last August I noticed a 

 number of swallows to roost every evening in a small willow plantation, in this parish. 

 This number gradually increased, until about the middle of September, when they 

 amounted to thousands — I was going to say myriads. To see their movements 

 about roosting-time was one of the most pleasing sights which I have ever witnessed 

 amongst the feathered tribes. About six o'clock every evening, several hundreds of 

 birds, apparently those bred in the parish, collected together at a particular part of the 

 air, and amused themselves by twittering and hawking after flies. In a short time 

 another body of swallows would arrive, evidently from another locality, and their 

 arrival was announced by a burst of twittering from both parties : then arrived another 

 from an opposite direction ; the same actions were repeated, and it joined the main 

 body. In this manner the original flock was augmented, apparently from all points of 

 the compass, and it gradually swelled into a tremendous flight, which kept up such a 

 loud, continued twitter, as to arrest the attention of the most inattentive. As I sat 

 and watched the birds assembling, with unwearied delight, I have often been struck 

 with astonishment at their amazing multitudes ; for their numbers seemed really 

 sufficient to people every town and hamlet in England. To watch them retire to roost 

 was a singular spectacle : they collected over the willow-bed, circled round and round 



