2390 Birds. 



to relent a little ; but what struck me much more forcibly was, finding' several wire- 

 worms loose in one of the nests, which had obviously escaped from the young ones. 

 I scarcely as yet know what plan to adopt. Mr. Briggs's I think is too sanguinary, 

 and Mr. Hawley's would soon make their numbers become unbearable. I think of 

 adopting the following one, — that is, every year — -just before harvest — to shoot some 

 when they are destroying the corn, and at all other times to let them go free. Ano- 

 ther " grievous fault" of the sparrow is, that they pick the buds off the gooseberry 

 bushes every year, but I opine that they have minute larvae in them, or they would 

 not do it ; for I have observed that there are some trees, growing within a dozen yards 

 of those they have stripped, from which they have not taken a single bud. — Edward 

 Peacock, Jun. ; Messingham, Kirton Lindsay, Lincolnshire, February, 1849. 



[The picking of buds off gooseberry trees is more often attributable to the bull- 

 finch than the sparrow. — E. Newman.'] 



Cole Titmouse (Parus ater) in London. — As some of the readers of the 'Zoologist' 

 may fancy that our little russet friend, the sparrow, is the only bird we ever see in 

 London, it may prove interesting intelligence if I state that in the latter part of last 

 November my little garden was visited by that pretty little bird, the cole tit, who 

 perched and jerked about with that beautiful pert activity so peculiar to this little fel- 

 low, and with a confidence that surprised me. As I suppose this bird to be a decided 

 countryman, I should like to be informed if its appearance amongst the mass of brick 

 and mortar of this great metropolis is not an occurrence of rarity. — W. Atkinson ; 

 Gordon Street, Gordon Square, February 8, 1849. 



[I have often seen this little bird in my garden at Peckham ; also its congeners 

 Parus major, caeruleus and palustris : all these will come to feed on suet if put out for 

 them. Chaffinches and greenfinches come fearlessly to hempseed ; blackbirds to rot- 

 ten apples and raw meat ; sparrows and robins to crumbs ; thrushes, starlings, wrens, 

 and, very rarely, hedge-sparrows, also make their appearance. — E. Newman.'] 



Remarkable Change in the Plumage of a Bullfinch (Loxia pyrrhula). — A lady, a 

 friend of mine, related to me the following account of a favourite bullfinch, which she 

 had some years in her possession. It was a great pet with the whole family, being a 

 very handsome male bird and exceedingly tame. Its food consisted generally of a 

 mixture of hemp and canary seed, plantain and green food occasionally. About two 

 years from the time she first had it, at the usual moulting season, it shed its feathers, 

 and instead of the reappearance of its natural plumage an entirely black one appeared. 

 From that time to the day of its death, which took place about eighteen months after- 

 wards, its sable hue remained unchanged, and the most minute inspection failed to 

 discover one single coloured feather. This alteration did not appear in the least to 

 affect its health or cheerfulness ; and during the remainder of its life the black bull- 

 finch became an object of curiosity to many, and a more important member of the 

 family than it was when in the ordinary garb of its kind. The stuffed specimen is 

 now in my possession. Can any one afford a clew to the reason of this peculiar 

 change ? — the more remarkable as the feathers on the breast are of the same deep 

 black as those upon the whole bird. — G. J. Webb ; Milford House, near Godalming, 

 January 28, 1848. 



[Montagu says, " In confinement this bird not unusually turns wholly black." 

 Bewick says this bird " sometimes becomes wholly black during its confinement." 

 White of Selborne says that " a cock bullfinch fed on hemp-seed becomes coal-black 

 at the end of four years." — Edicard Newman.] 



