Birds. 2527 



gig, I followed some distance into a fir plantation, when, to my no small gratification, 

 I found perhaps thirty or more feeding on some Scoteh firs. The day being fine, and 

 as they were the first I had seen in a state of wild nature, I watched them for about 

 twenty minutes : their actions are very graceful while feeding, hanging in every ima- 

 ginable attitude, peering into the cones, which, if they contain seed, are instantly 

 severed from the branch ; clutched with one foot, they are instantly emptied of their 

 contents, when down they come. So rapidly did they fall, that I could compare it to 

 nothing better than being beneath an oak tree in autumn, when the acorns are falling 

 in showers about one's head, but that the cones were rather heavier. No sooner are 

 they on the wing than they one and all commence a fretful, unhappy chirl, not unlike 

 the redpole's, but louder ; but from that well-known and expressive attitude, as well 

 as the chirl made by most young finches, I was certain many of them were too young 

 to have come from any great distance ; so Mr. Allan, a brother naturalist, and myself, 

 fully anxious to be certain in this particular, started early on Tuesday morning to 

 procure, if possible, a young bird, when, after roughing it through brake and brier for 

 eleven hours, I succeeded in shooting one. We might have got one much sooner, 

 but when we arrived at the scene of action we found an enemy in the camp before us, 

 in the shape of a sparrow hawk, dashing right and left in the midst of the flock, which 

 made them very wild ; and it was not my wish to fire promiscuously at the flock, but 

 to select a young bird. The old birds were very conspicuous when feeding ; the males 

 dressed in fine rosy red, and the old females — from the upper mandible to the inser- 

 tion of the tail-coverts — a fine olive-green, but the coverts are yellow, equal in colour 

 to the coverts of the green woodpecker. Colour of the young birds : — head, neck and 

 back dark ash, tinged with green, thickly marked with brown ; breast, rump and 

 flanks greenish yellow, marked with brown ; vent ash ; under tail-coverts brown, each 

 feather edged with ash ; wings olive-brown ; larger wing-coverts slightly edged with 

 white, forming a slight bar ; mandibles much darker than those of the old birds.. 

 The bird shot and described as above is quite naked of feathers under the wing and 

 down the middle of the belly near to the vent, which I think proves it to have been 

 bred here : the time of year when it was taken is also in favour of this opinion. — 

 Joseph Duff; Bishop's Auckland, July 19, 1849. 



Occurrence of the Crossbill at Wisbeach. — A fine male bird was shot in a field near 

 to the Mount Pleasant bank, in this town, on the 17th instant. This is a very unu- 

 sual visitant in this district, which is destitute of woods and fir plantations. It was 

 in company with some sparrows. The man who shot it took it to the museum in 

 this town. — Robert Marris ; Lynn Road, July 19, 1849. 



Nesting of the Cirl Bunting (Emberiza cirlus) at Rye. — About three weeks ago a 

 nest of the cirl bunting, containing four eggs, was taken about two miles from this 

 place. This bird appears to be exceedingly local in its habits. In some parts ot 

 Sussex it is tolerably common ; but though I have for seven months searched dili- 

 gently, I have only been able to procure three males and one female. A full account 

 of its localities in Sussex will be found in Mr. Knox's * Ornithological Kambles.' — 

 /. B. Ellman; Rye, July 14, 1849. 



The New British Woodpecker killed in Yorkshire. — The woodpecker described by 

 Mr. Higgins (Zool. 2497) is the female of the hairy woodpecker (Picus villosus). — 

 (Picus villosus, Linn., Gmel. Hairy Woodpecker, Penn., Lath., Montagu, Lewin., Src. 

 Pic chevelu de Virginie, Buff. Pic varie de Virginie, BHss) Mr. Higgins's descrip- 

 tion is so clear and full that I have not the slightest doubt about the bird ; and I can 



