Birds. 315 



in 1780, the swallow make its appearance at Argentiera. The wind 

 had been several days to the north-east, but in the night it had shifted 

 to the west, the sky was serene and the sun hot." 



" Becaficos arrive in September. The island of Malta is a rest- 

 ing-place for these little birds, as well as for other species, such as 

 quails, &c. Their passage into that island is suspended when the 

 west and north-west winds blow, and they arrive there only with those 

 from the east and south-east." 



Mr. Swainson, in the preface to his * Birds of Western Africa,' tells 

 us, "that the island of Sicily, during the spring and autumnal migra- 

 tions, may be considered like a vast preserve of quails and numerous 

 other migratory birds." 



However, it would appear that the warblers do possess much 

 greater powers of flight than are commonly attributed to them. A re- 

 markable instance of this is given by the Prince of Musignano, Charles 

 Lucien Bonaparte. "A few days ago," says he, " being five hundred 

 miles from the coasts of Portugal, four hundred from those of Africa, 

 we were agreeably surprised by the appearance of a few swallows {Hi- 

 rundo urhica and rustica). This, however extraordinary, might have 

 been explained by an easterly gale, which might have cut off migrat- 

 ing from the main to Madeira, only two hundred miles distant from 

 us ; but what was my surprise in observing several small warblers hop- 

 ping about the deck and rigging. These poor little strangers, ex- 

 hausted as they were, were soon caught and brought to me. The fol- 

 lowing is a list of the species : — 1. Sylvia Trochilus. 2. S. Eritha- 

 cus. Lath. (Tithys, TetJim.) 3. S. Suecica, or rather a similar species 

 which I have already received from Egypt and Barbary. 4. A species of 

 Anthus."— * On board the Delaware, March 20.'* See also ' The Zo- 

 ologist,' (Zool. 15) for some interesting observations by Mr. Hewitson. 



I have even heard of the death's-head hawk-moth, whose capability 

 of flight is much more questionable, flying on board ship at a consi- 

 derable distance from land. W. R. Hall Jordan. 

 17, South Parade, Fulham Road, 

 August 3, 1843. 



Note on the Hooded Crowds breeding in Norfolk. Having observed for several years 

 that a few of the hooded crows, which abound here during the winter season, still lin- 

 ger about the sea-shore, some time after the great bulk of them have disappeared, I 

 watched them last spring as closely as possible, in the hope of finding that one or two 



* Time's Telescope for 1834, p. 129. 



