Birds. 5601 



Birds of the evening or night, when disturbed during the blaze of 

 day, are no doubt as much out of place as the sloth on the ground, 

 which that field naturalist, Mr. Waterton, has so admirably shown in 

 the 'Wanderings;' among such are the Caprimulgidae, which may 

 well be called "insect owls." Most readers know of the nightjar's 

 habit of sitting lengthwise on a limb of a tree or rail, and many, I have 

 no doubt, have observed this peculiarity ; but, as no two people see 

 with the same eyes, the mean of descriptions given by many will 

 approach nearest a true general view, therefore I have, in these notes, 

 noticed some facts that may appear trifling, but which I hope may be 

 of more use than had I only drawn up a stiff catalogue. 1 have little 

 to say of the nightjar {Caprimulgus europmus), the last of the Inses- 

 sores, beyond that I shot specimens as early as the 10th of May and 

 as late as the 27th of September, one of which came to this country. 

 There were no peculiarities about the few specimens examined by me, 

 . either in size or colour ; but I counted the number of stiff hairs or 

 bristles, which was seven on each side of the upper mandible of 

 a female killed in May, which, in all other points, agreed accurately 

 with Yarrell's description. I found a fly, resembling a small horse fly, 

 on this bird, which, I should say, was one of its parasites. 



Rasores. — Columbidce. 



1 have little to say of the birds of the dove kind : the turtle dove 

 (Columba turtur) was numerous during summer and spring. There 

 was another species, which I took for the rock dove (Columba livid), 

 which was common, and, I think, bred in the high cliffs of the Cher- 

 sonese ; there were also numbers about the same situations during 

 winter. This bird, although I obtained a specimen in Bulgaria, which 

 I preserved, I placed among the doubtful birds of the Crimea ; since 

 doing so, however, I have seen in the ' Zoologist' (Zool. 5353), a 

 "List of Birds observed in the Crimea," by Lieut. Irby, in which is 

 included this bird and also Columba palumbus, but, as it appears 

 that specimens of neither were brought to this country, I do not feel 

 justified in advancing them to the true list. Those, of course, who 

 commenced to read these notes must also have observed the note to 

 the pheasant in the list above mentioned, which states that it is pro- 

 bably found in the Crimea ; however, I have made all inquiries, and 

 cannot find of its having been observed in a single instance, and 

 therefore 1 cannot even include it among the d&ubtful; and T think- 

 that it could not have been Lieut. Irby's intention that the list should 

 be taken as positive information, because, having corresponded with 

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