5040 Letters on Natural History. 



the willow wrens it is which White says ' cantat voce stridula lo- 

 custae ' ? I never heard any bird with such a note except the grass- 

 hopper warbler, but my knowledge of the Sylviadae, as I said above, 

 is but small, so if you can tell me I shall be obliged. The fire- 

 crested wren (Sylvittignicapilla,Temminck) is undoubtedly a different 

 species from the common goldcrested wren, having three bands on the 

 head instead of one ; but the two species were very much confounded 

 by the Continental naturalists till the differences were clearly pointed 

 out by Temminck and Brehm : the bird described and figured by 

 Buffon as 'Le Roitelet' is the fire-crested wren: they differ also in 

 habits, the firecrested haunting bushes and the lower branches of 

 trees, while our common species prefers the higher branches of firs 

 and pines, both for habitation and nidification : if you saw the two 

 birds together you could not doubt their distinction. I have not spe- 

 cimens by me, but my Oxfordshire friend has, and if you will tell me 

 in your next whether you think it worth double postage I could en- 

 close you drawings of the heads, the difference in colouring of which 

 would settle the point with you : I confess that I feel interested in it, 

 as this beautiful little species may be common among us and yet have 

 escaped detection. No author has yet mentioned the firecrested wren 

 as British, and I believe Mr. Jenyns' specimen, which I mentioned in 

 my last, is as yet the only ascretained English one. 



(i The bee-eater and golden oriole, which you mention as having 

 been shot in your neighbourhood, are very good British birds : the 

 glossy ibis which you mention is also generally reputed rare in Eng- 

 land, but is, I think, much more common than is thought ; the simi- 

 larity of its habits and appearance at a distance with that of the 

 curlews, and the great variations of age and season in its plumage, are 

 the occasion of many specimens passing unnoticed and being con- 

 signed to the spit instead of to the Museum. 



" You will, I am sure, excuse my saying that you are mistaken in 

 supposing the horse-shoe bat to be the Vespertilio altivolans of 

 White, which is generally considered to be the V. Noctula of natu- 

 ralists : it is thus described in Griffith's ' Synopsis of Mammalia : ' — 

 * Body yellowish ; membranes brown-black ; ears oval, but approach- 

 ing a triangle, inner ears pointed ; length of body about 3 inches ; 

 expanse 16 inches.' The V. serotinus, which is nearly allied to the 

 last, has ' the back red-brown, brighter in the females ; membrane 

 black ; ears as in V. Noctula, but larger ; length of body under 

 3 inches; expanse 14 inches.' The horse-shoe bat of England is 

 about 3 inches in body, 14 inches in expanse; reddish ash above, 



