3906 Birds. 



wing cut, has contracted a friendship with a cat inhabiting the same premises, which 

 the latter reciprocated on a recent occasion by bringing a live mouse, and putting it 

 down before its friend the hawk, who immediately attacked and devoured it ; the cat 

 in the mean time sitting quietly by at a short distance, complacently observing its ally 

 enjoying the result of this display of feline benevolence. — J. H. Gurney ; Easton, 

 Norfolk, May 17, 1853. 



Note on the Geographical Distribution of Accipiter Tachiro and Terekia cinerea. — 

 Accipiter Tachiro. — The Norwich Museum contains an adult male specimen of this 

 tine sparrow-hawk from the neighbourhood of Erzeroum, in Armenia. I am not aware 

 that any other localities have hitherto been quoted for this species, than the southern 

 and eastern portions of the African continent. Terekia cinerea. — The Norwich Mu- 

 seum also contains a specimen of this curious little wader, in nearly full breeding plu- 

 mage, obtained in South Africa. I am not aware of this bird having been included 

 in any list of African birds, although it is known to exist in Europe, Asia and Austra- 

 lia. — J. H. Gurney ; Easton, Norfolk, May 17, 1853. 



On the Occurrence of the Golden Oriole (Oriola Galbula) in Norfolk. — Two speci- 

 mens of the golden oriole were sent to Norwich to-day to be preserved: they were both 

 very fine male birds, and both in the flesh. One had been shot at Kenninghall, and 

 the other at Dilbam, the distance between the two localities being rather under thirty 

 miles in a straight line. — Id. 



Occurrence of the Golden Oriole (Oriolus Galbula) near Weymouth. — On the 4th 

 of May, an adult male of the golden oriole {Oriolus Galbula) was shot near the village 

 of Fleet, which is about three miles to the westward of Weymouth. I have this day 

 seen it, and believe this to be its first occurrence in Dorsetshire. — William Thomp- 

 son ; Weymouth, May 7, 1853. 



Occurrence of the Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda) in Lincolnshire. — The record of the 

 occurrence of the Apteryx at large in Wales (Zool. 3845), induces me to mention an 

 instance of a straggler, captured in England, of a species scarcely less likely to be 

 found in these latitudes. In the spring of 1850, I was told by a friend, the Rev. J. 

 Brewster, of Greatham, and of Laughton, Lincolnshire, that his butler had obtained a 

 bird which he believed to be new to the British Isles. I called on the man and pro- 

 cured the bird, which proved to be a specimen of the jacamar (the Galbula ruficauda 

 of Cuvier, G. Leptura, Swainson), a female in perfect plumage, though badly mounted. 

 On further inquiry I found that the bird was shot in the month of June or July, 1849, 

 by S. Fox, the gamekeeper of H. Bacon Hickman, Esq., on a manor adjoining Laugh- 

 ton, in the parish of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. It was flying over a small brook in 

 a wood, apparently in pursuit of butterflies, and bore no marks of having escaped from 

 captivity. Mr. Brewster's butler received it in the flesh, when quite fresh, and neither 

 he nor the gamekeeper had any idea of its ornithological curiosity, but took it for a 

 singularly marked kingfisher, which in its flight they said it resembied. I mentioned 

 the circumstance to Mr. Yarrell, who expressed himself as quite at a loss to account 

 for the capture of such a bird in Lincolnshire. I am not aware of its ever having been 

 found North of Trinidad, much less on the eastern side of the Atlantic. Has such a 

 bird ever been brought to this country alive P From its insectivorous habits I scarcely 



