Letters on Natural History, 5043 



otos; S. otus; Coitus corone; Oriolis galbula; Sylvia Phcenicurus ; 

 Saxicola rubicola (stonechat) ; Motacilla flava (yellow wagtail) ; Frin- 

 gilla clomestica (common sparrow), only slightly differing from ours; 

 Fringilla carduelis ? (goldfinch) — I think this is probably an allied 

 species, F. spinoides, Gould, wanting the black and w T hite on the 

 head; Cuculus canorus; Sitta Europaea, a slight variety, deeper 

 coloured on the breast ; Upupa Epops ; Alcedo ispida, a trifling va- 

 riety, rather smaller ; Hirundo riparia; Pterocles setarius (the pintail 

 grouse of Spain) ; Perdix Francolinus (the Francolin partridge) ; Te- 

 trao Coturnix ; Calidris arenaria (sanderling) ; Himantopus mela- 

 nopterus (longlegged plover) ; Charadrius pluvialis ? Jardine and 

 Selby think may be specifically distinct, but it is very closely allied ; 

 C. hiaticula? Vanellus melanogaster, Temm. (Tringa squatarola, 

 Linn.)-, Ardea Egretta ; A. Nycticorax ; Ibis falcinellus (glossy ibis); 

 Numenius arquatus (curlew r ), a small variety; N. phaeopus (whim- 

 brel) ; Tringa Temminckii (stint); T. cinerea (knot), a slight variety ; 

 Totanus calidris (redshank) ; T. ochropus ; T. glareola; T. hypoleu- 

 cos; Limosa melanura (godwit) ; Scolopax gallinago; Gallinula pu- 

 silla; Porphyrio hyacinthinus (purple water-hen of Italy); Podiceps 

 minor; Anas rutila (ruddy goose) ; A. strepera; A. acuta; A. Pe- 

 nelope; A. querquedula; A. crecca; A. ferina; A. nyroca ; Mergus 

 merganser. The names are from Temminck. Besides these, the 

 green and spotted woodpeckers, creeper, nutcracking crow, &c, of 

 Europe, are all represented by birds differing just enough to show 

 them to be distinct species. I remember to have read that Humboldt 

 attempted to draw what he termed isothermal lines, viz., lines bound- 

 ing and connecting the different regions throughout the earth in which 

 the mean temperature of the atmosphere was the same, in which, ac- 

 cording to his theory, the natural productions would come under the 

 same, or at least under allied genera : the birds of Nepaul and the 

 Dhoon, as I have given them above, seem strongly corroborative of 

 some such arrangement, though I am afraid that, like many other 

 plausible theories, its application to Zoology would never become 

 more than a matter of curious speculation. 



" Have you ever found Montagu's ashcoloured harrier in Cornwall ? 

 the bird described by Selby as the female is (according to Strickland, 

 who is well acquainted with the species) a young bird : Montagu like- 

 wise describes a young male for the mature female, stating that the 

 under parts are of an uniform colour, which is not the case, as in the 

 female ' every feather underneath, for a considerable space on each 

 side the shaft, is very much darker than at the edges, so as to give 



