212 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



in 'The Zoologist' for 1844 (p. 639), and subsequently in Wise's 

 * New Forest,' and in the Kev. E. Venables' ' Guide to the Isle 

 of Wight,' as obtained by a Mr. Butler. There is no reason to 

 doubt his veracity, and, if it is not the bird alluded toby Laishley, 

 then two have been shot in the Isle of Wight, where they may 

 have come from France ; I have seen one which was shot near 

 Boulogne. 



Mr. Edward Hart, the possessor of one of the best collections 

 of British birds, has a Crested Tit which was shot in 1846 at 

 Stanpit, near Christchurch, in a belt of fir-trees at the edge of 

 a marsh by a man named Footner : this is the bird mentioned 

 in Wise's ' New Forest,' App. III. Mr. Hart also tells me that 

 the Rev. Mr. Pearce had one shot at or near Morden, in Dorset- 

 shire, and which has not been recorded. There is not the slightest 

 reason to doubt Footner's word ; he showed Mr. Hart the place 

 where he shot the bird, and if that is genuine Mr. Pearce's may 

 well be so too. 



In Ireland, Mr. Blake-Knox informed Mr. Dresser that he 

 had one, killed in Wicklow in 1869 (' Birds of Europe,' iii. p. 152), 

 and it is not easy to see why any doubt should be cast on so 

 positive a statement, corroborated as it is by so many occurrences 

 of Crested Tits in England. 



It will be seen that we have here a list of about twenty-two 

 Crested Tits, seen or killed, of which three rest on birdstuffers' 

 authority, and fifteen on the authority of amateurs. Twelve of 

 these were on the east coast, the county of Yorkshire being espe- 

 cially favoured with no less than seven. These may most likely 

 have been of Norwegian origin : it is fair to assume this, and that 

 they had crossed the sea with some of the great bands of Gold- 

 crests, or, more likely, with smaller parties of the Great Tit, which, 

 as is well known, visit England in that way. Mr. R. Collett has 

 especially remarked on their consorting with other small birds 

 during migration (c./. ' Birds of Europe,' iii. p. 1.53). Or they 

 may have come from Holland, for Mr. Seebohm tells us, in his 

 1 British Birds,' that the Crested Tit is very abundant at Valken- 

 swaard, which is not two hundred miles from Suffolk. Autumn 

 migration in Suffolk and Norfolk is generally from east to west. 

 It must be admitted that it is a curious fact that in fifty-three 

 years Herr Gatke has only known one to be captured in Heligo- 

 land ; but then Heligoland is an anomalous little island, and it 



