Birds, 39 



readers. Bill one-third shorter than the head, brownish yellow ; cere 

 yellow : nostrils oblique, oblong. Head and neck greyish ferruginous, 

 feathers lanceolate acuminate, a few below the lower mandible linear 

 acuminate ; anterior and medial dorsal feathers ovate, abrupt, ferru- 

 ginous, the margins lighter ; posterior dorsal feathers dark chocolate 

 brown, with a narrow lighter border, abrupt and shortly acuminate ; 

 tail coverts dark brown, lanceolate-ovate : tail-feathers twelve, some- 

 what cuneiform, yeljowish- white : upper or dorsal alar feathers ovate, 

 abrupt, dark brown, secondaries greyish chocolate, abrupt; quills thir- 

 ty-six, dark brown : lower wing-coverts dark brown, abrupt, acumi- 

 nate ; lower alar feathers roundish lanceolate, light ferruginous : pec- 

 toral feathers lanceolate, greyish ferruginous : abdominal, hypochon- 

 drial and tibial feathers dark grey ; upper abdominal bordered with 

 ferruginous, ovate, those on the tibia lanceolate, abrupt : feet gamboge 

 yellow, claws black. Scutella of the leg, 9 ; of middle toe, 16 ; of each 

 of the side toes and hind toe, 6. 



MEASUREMENT. 

 INCHES. 



Point of bill to end of tail, 39 

 Utmost extent of wing, 93 



Length of do. when closed 26^ 

 Point of bill to base of cere 24 

 Base of cere to back of head 2f 

 Baltasound, December, 1842. 





INCHES. 



Lore, 





1t^ 



Cere at the dorsum of bill, 



8 

 IS 



Gape, 





3^ 



Nostrils, 





9 



Thos. 



Edmonston 



, JUN. 



Short Communications about Birds. 

 Note on the Crossbill, (Loxia curvirostra). These birds were very 

 plentiful in the south of Devon during the winter of 1838-9 ; and on 

 the 10th of April, 1839, I saw a nest at Ogwell House, near Newton; 

 it was built in a spruce fir tree, close to the stable, and appeared to 

 be constructed in a somewhat similar manner to that of the greenfinch 

 (Coccothraustes Chloris). The male had been shot, but the female 

 still continued to attend the nest. — W. R. HallJordan; Teignmouth, 

 November 24, 1842. 



Note on Birds shot at Southend. The following birds were obtain- 

 ed by myself and a friend in the neighbourhood of Southend, Essex, 

 during the last week of August and the two first of September. 

 Ring Plover, Charadrius HiaticiUa Common Heron, Ardea cinerea 



Grey Plover, Squatarola cinerea Curlew, Numenius arquata 



Lapwing or Peewit, Vanellus cristatus Common Snipe, Scolopax Gallinago 



Oyster-catcher, Hcemalopus Osiralegus Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa melanvra 



