Birds. 3907 



think this possible ; and yet, how otherwise could it have found its way to the eastern 

 side of the British Isles ? I simply mention the facts relating to the specimen in my 

 possession, and shall be glad if any of your readers can throw light on the subject. I 

 should have communicated its occurrence before, but that T had a dread of the preva- 

 lent anxiety to include every captured straggler in the catalogue of British birds. Its 

 claims appear as good as those of the Australian spine-tailed swallow, or the Asiatic 

 minor grackle ; and yet, I trust you will agree with me, that clear as is the evidence 

 of its capture at large within the four seas, it would be ludicrous to assign to the Gal- 

 bula ruficauda a place in the list of our denizens and visitors.— H. B. Tristram ; Cas- 

 tle Eden, Durham, May 10, 1853. 



Susceptibility to cold of Sylvia Trochilus. — The weather on Saturday last and yes- 

 terday was extraordinarily cold, with snow on both days, and last night we had severe 

 frosj. Under a Portugal laurel, close to the house, and in which it had evidently 

 sought shelter from the cold wind, we found a willow-wren dead ; and in a hollow 

 formed by a defective brick, on a level with the ground, under the same evergreen 

 shrub, lay two more, also dead. Had the odd bird escaped ? Two or three yards off 

 was another little evergreen, similarly situated against the wall of the house ; I looked 

 under it, and there was the odd bird, also dead, evidently from cold. In woods and 

 thickets they would creep into the long grass, and so, for the most part, escape : but 

 we have here an adequate cause wherefore these pretty but susceptible visitors cannot 

 come to us at an earlier period, much less remain with us through the winter. The 

 absence of insects is not the only reason they must quit our shores before the winter's 

 cold arrives. — W. H. Wayne; Much Wenlock, Salop, May 10, 1853. 



Occurrence of the Blue-throated Warbler (Sylvia suecica), the Little Auk (Uria 

 Alle), and the Black Redstart (Sylvia Tithys) near Worthing, in Sussex. — I beg to 

 inform you that I have this morning received from a friend at Worthing, near which 

 place it was shot on the 2nd instant, a female specimen of that rare British bird, the 

 blue-throated warbler. From an examination since it has been skinned, it appears to 

 have fed exclusively on small beetles, and is exceedingly fat. No previous record of 

 the occurrence of this bird is given in the pages of the ' Zoologist.' I have also re- 

 ceived from the same locality a beautiful specimen of the little auk, and a female ex- 

 ample of the black redstart; the former of which was shot on the 15lh of November, 

 and the latter on the 23rd of that month. — J. W. Stephenson ; 2, Loudoun Place, 

 Brixton Road, May 4, 1853. 



Note on the Black Redstart. — Another example of the black redstart occurred near 

 Bembridge at the end of March. The day following its discovery, we proceeded to 

 the place where it had been first seen, a large meadow sprinkled over with recently cut 

 timber. We had scarcely made one round of the field, when the peculiar " ducking " 

 action of a bird alighting on a trunk attracted our attention, and on nearer approach 

 the fiery tail, as the bird flew off, showed we were not mistaken. The bird was rest- 

 less rather than shy, and kept taking short flights from one heap of faggots to another, 

 occasionally settling on the turf, as if in search of insects. On securing it, it proved a 

 middle-aged male, and I am pretty confident that I afterwards saw a second individual 

 on the same spot. Does not the occurrence of these birds, at the time of the spring 

 movement, tend towards explaining the course of their migration, especially since we 

 hear that they are not very uncommon as winter visitors in Devon ? It seems to me 

 quite possible that these birds, when seen in the Isle of Wight, were at the time pro- 

 ceeding towards their summer quarters, moving in a direction from West to East along 



