5424 Birth. 



numbers. I suppose it to be a resident, but cannot say from 

 observation. 



Dr. William Carte mentions having obtained a specimen of the 

 redwing {Turdus iliac us) in January, and the fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) 

 in the following month; I also observed the latter on the 12th of 

 January, but cannot find any note about them in the spring, wherefore 

 I suppose that they go North for the summer. 



I saw at the end of April, while out early as usual one morning, 

 what I took for a species of thrush, but it was considerably less than 

 any of the foregoing. 



Now here is a double instance of the value of books of reference 

 and of observers working together. While out shooting along the 

 cliffs beyond the Monastery of St. George, in the beginning of May, 

 I caught a short glimpse of a bird sitting on the edge of a rock, but 

 on approaching he dropped, as it were, directly down under the cliff, 

 where there was no possibility of getting it. I had since the winter 

 studied Yarrell's work, and looked over the beautiful woodcuts many 

 times, and I felt convinced that I had seen the bird in that work. On 

 returning to my hut you may imagine me turning over the leaves, 

 which I did not long do in vain, for I soon came upon the rock thrush 

 (Turdus saxatilis), and settled in my own mind that it was the bird I 

 had seen ; however, I never should have had the pleasure of bringing 

 it forward in any other way than as a surmise, had I not mentioned 

 the circumstance to Dr. William Carte, with whom I became by 

 chance acquainted shortly after, when he immediately relieved me of 

 all doubt by saying that he had procured a specimen on the cliffs near 

 the old Genoese castle above Balaclava. 



The other borderer of which I have to speak is that gaudily plu- 

 maged bird, the golden oriole (Oriolus galbula) ; as of the other I know 

 little concerning him, nor did I take particular trouble to find out 

 much, because his plumage is so attractive that he is often killed by 

 sportsmen, and seldom neglected by mere collectors. It is well that 

 scientific collectors should bear in mind the standing rule, rather to 

 pursue the modest plumaged birds than the more gaudy ; and, when 

 speaking of this, there is another rule, — when one arrives in a new 

 country to begin by collecting what appears to be most common, for 

 before you know where you are they may be gone never more to be 

 seen by you. 



I shot a couple of the golden oriole (Oriolus galbula) on the 

 4th of September, and I saw a fine male specimen, which a 

 friend of mine had killed on the 12th of May. More specimens 



