184 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



nor did he make any announcement of the fact in the Exeter newspapers, 

 as he was in the habit of doing, by way of advertisement, whenever he had 

 any remarkable bird in his shop. If such a rare species had occurred it 

 would have made a lasting impression on my memory, and -I should have 

 made a note of it, as I always did whenever I saw or heard of anything 

 relating to the Ornithology of Devon, and I recorded in ' The Zoologist ' 

 the occurrence of several of the rare birds which form part of Mr. Byne's 

 collection. Truscott was also constantly employed by the late Mr. F. W. 

 L. Koss, of Topsham, who would have paid him highly for such a prize. 

 None of the other Exeter collectors, so far as I know, ever heard of the 

 existence of such a specimen. The late Mr. W. Tombs, who also employed 

 Truscott, frequently sent notices of unusual birds shot near Exeter to the 

 ' Naturalist ' and ' Zoologist,' but I can find no record of this bird in the 

 volumes for 1854 or 1855. In 1869 Mr. Truscott's account of it was that 

 " he knew the specimen in Mr. Byne's collection to be British, as he skinned 

 it himself; that it was shot in company with some Crossbills, about nine 

 or ten years since, by a gentleman in the army by the name of Hooper." 

 He also said he had a Pine Grosbeak which was shot and stuffed by a 

 gardener at Powderham (this I believe to have been a Hawfinch, Truscott 

 often confusing the two species when speaking of them, as many persons 

 do). I think Mr. Guruey has mixed these two reputed occurrences 

 together. About that time Truscott seems to have had a Pine Grosbeak 

 in his shop, but he told the late Mr. Brodrick that it was not the bird shot 

 at Powderham. Some few years before the supposed date of the occurrence 

 of Mr. Byne's specimen Truscott had returned from Canada, where Pine 

 Grosbeaks are sometimes seen in large flocks in winter, and where I have 

 myself shot beautiful red specimens feeding on the berries of the mountain 

 ash. He brought home many skins of Canadian birds with him, some of 

 which I saw in his possession, and he may have had Canadian-killed Pine 

 Grosbeaks. It would be well if some competent person were to compare 

 Mr. Byne's specimen with American examples. My belief is that the 

 supposed occurrence near Exeter originated in a mistake. — W. S. M. 

 D'Urban (10, Claremont Terrace, Exmouth). 



The Pine Grosbeak as a British Bird.— There can, I think, be no 

 doubt about the origin of the four Pine Grosbeaks received by the bird- 

 stuffer at Great Yarmouth on or about March 1st, 1889, and stated to have 

 been shot in Wolmer Forest (No. 33 in Mr. J. H. Gurney, Jun., supple- 

 mentary list, Zool. 1890, p. 128). On the 7th of that same month I 

 received two specimens from Leadenhall Market, where they had been sent 

 in a frozen condition from Northern Europe. Norway was given as the 

 locality, but it is very possible that they came from Russia, as Mr. Gurney 

 suggests. Although these Grosbeaks were rather dry when thawed, espe- 

 cially about the head and feet, they were fresh enough to make nic a couple 



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