Birds. 5(585 



nut, unless it had been so stated on the best authority ; besides, if constantly used in 

 drilling holes through nuts, it would necessarily have become, I should have thought, 

 in some degree blunted thereby, whereas the bills of all these birds are very acute, and 

 the upper mandible exceeding the lower in length, which seems unlikely to be the 

 case if constantly brought in contact with so hard and polished a surface as that of the 

 nut. The back is of a uniform bluish gray, the lower parts reddish yellow; the first 

 quill has a slight white spot on the shaft as well as on the inner web at the base, the 

 rest of the feather being of a dark brown ; second quill much the same, but has a slight 

 narrow white line about halfway up the outer shaft; the third and fourth quills are 

 marked the same; the fifth is white at the base and on the inner shaft; the rest of the 

 quills slightly margined with white on the inner webs only ; the fourth is very little 

 longer than the third ; the second and fifth are about the same length ; the first three- 

 tenths shorter than the second. Several authors, Temminck among the rest, say the 

 throat is white, but in all three of the specimens that I have recently had under 

 examination that part is gray, but in the male the lightest: there is, however, a silvery 

 white patch on the cheek, as well as a white spot on the wing near the flexure. The 

 tarsi and toes of the male are much the darkest. The tail, which is composed of twelve 

 feathers, has the two centre ones narrow and of a bluish gray, like the back, the three 

 outer ones are black at the base, and have diamond-shaped white patches on the inner 

 webs towards the points, which end in triangular black spots, the exterior feathers only 

 being white on the greater part of the outer webs, but black at the base and at the 

 tips; the fourth feathers are merely tipped with white; the fifth are entirely black, 

 with the exception of a slight shade of gray at the tips ; the under tail-coverts are 

 white in the centre, margined with reddish brown. Female: length 5£ inches ; extent 

 of wings 10 inches; wing from flexure 3£ inches; tail If inch ; bill along ridge 

 6^-tenths of an inch, along edge of lower mandible f inch ; tarsus S-tenths of an inch ; 

 hind toe £ inch, claw \ inch ; middle toe 6-tenths of an inch, claw 3^-- tenths of an 

 inch ; inner toe 3^-tenths of an inch, claw 3-tenths; outer toe 4^-tenths of an inch, 

 claw 3-tenths of an inch. — Id.; May 1, 1857. 



Note on the Woodchat Shrike (Lanius rufus). — May 14, 1857. Went out in quest 

 of birds, and had not proceeded above a quarter of a mile from the town when I ob- 

 served a strange one fly across the road ; there was a peculiarity in its appearance, as 

 well as flight, which attracted my attention, and I felt sure it was a species I had 

 never before seen ; consequently hastened to load my gun, and while doing so it passed 

 so close that I could not only distinguish the reddish brown patch on the head and 

 neck, but a fly that it bad captured and still held between its beak. Having seen it 

 alight on an oak tree, some fifty yards off, I followed it up and shot at it, when it fell 

 among some nettles, but being merely winged it crept into a hedge, where it was sub- 

 sequently seen by some boys who had joined me in the search, which was continued 

 for an hour or two. As I distinctly saw the rufous of the hind neck there can be no 

 doubt of its being the wood shrike. Its flight was most buoyant, and, in passing over 

 head with expanded wings, it seemed to float upon the air. I remarked that the whole 

 of the under parts appeared perfectly white, which agrees with Teraminck's descrip- 

 tion, " d'un blanc pur," whereas he tells us that the redbacked shrike (Lanius 

 collurio) has the " poitrine, flancs et ventre d'un roux rose." — Id.; May, 1857. 



Note on the Grasshopper Warbler (Sylvia locustella). — May 6, 1857. In 

 passing through a wood on my return from the village of Pembury I heard 

 the peculiar but well-known notes of this singular little bird, which I was 



