Letters on Natural History. 5035 



has occurred near Romford, in Essex. I have heard it suspected by 

 many good ornithologists that the barn swallow of America (Hirundo 

 rufa, Linn., H. Americana, Wilson) is by no means uncommon in 

 England, but confounded with the common chimney swallow (H. rus- 

 tica), from which it differs chiefly in having the under parts from chin 

 to vent light chestnut instead of white. I have shot myself, at 

 different times, six or seven specimens so coloured, including all ages 

 and both sexes, and have seen others in bird-stuffers' shops : the 

 under parts in these were light chestnut, inclining to buff: Wilson, in 

 the 'American Ornithology,' says the female has ihem rufous-white, 

 and also that the bird does not build in chimneys like H. rustica, but 

 in barns and outhouses. I intend to keep a look-out for the bird next 

 summer, and if you do the same we can compare the result of our 

 observations. I intend to mention the point to Mr. Gould, to draw 

 his attention to it. 



" Since writing the last page, 1 have found the memorandum of the 

 second English occurrence of Cypselus alpinus, which was at Kings- 

 gate, near Margate. Another bird to which I wonld draw your atten- 

 tion is the firecrested wren {Trochilus ignicapillus, Temminck), a 

 single specimen of which is in the possession of Mr. Jenyns, of 

 Swaffham-Bulbeck, Norfolk, it having been brought into his house by 

 a cat: it has probably been overlooked, from its close resemblance to 

 the common goldcrested wren, from which it differs in having the 

 black band on each side the crest bounded first by a white stripe, and 

 that again by a second black band through the eye ; whence Tem- 

 minck gives it the French title of 'roitelet a triple bandeau.' The 

 arctic gull, properly so called {Lestris parasiticus) is not found in 

 England, and scarcely ever so far South as the Shetlands : the bird 

 which has hitherto passed under that name with British naturalists, 

 and of which the blacktoed is the young, is now distinguished as L. 

 Richardsonii, and differs greatly, in shape, size and colour, from the 

 true L. parasiticus. Are you aware that the grebes moult all at once, 

 like the duck tribes? A dabchick (Podiceps minuius) which I shot 

 in the change from summer plumage, September 23rd, had only young 

 quills in the wings, so as to be unable to fly, and when we skinned 

 it was so pen-feathered that it could scarcely be made a skin of. Two 

 specimens of the Caspian tern, I am told by a correspondent, were shot 

 in 1830, near Yarmouth, but whether the Yarmouth in Norfolk or that 

 in the Isle of Wight my informant sayeth not. A single specimen of 

 the real great white heron (A. (equinoctialis), sl bird as large as or 

 •larger than the common heron, was shot at Hornsea Mere, East Riding 



