496 Birds. 



days in the church-yard of this parish, a piece of ground above seven acres in extent : 

 when alarmed, I have seen them immediately fly to the church, and conceal them- 

 selves on the double roof, thus evincing their strong inclination to retire from the ob- 

 servation of man. I may add that I have two duplicate skins of the blackstart which 

 I shall be happy to send to any two of your readers who may apply for them. — W. S. 

 More ; Stoke, Devonport, February 2, 1844. 



Note on Richard's Pipit. Four specimens of Richard's pipit [Anthus Ricardi) were 

 obtained here in December, 1841 : three of them were in excellent condition, one of 

 which is in my collection. My young friend, Mr. John Gatcombe, who is an excel- 

 lent practical ornithologist, and from whom I received my specimen, has been on the 

 look out for this bird during the past and present seasons, but without seeing a sin- 

 gle individual. He describes the flight of the birds killed in 1841 as resembling that 

 of the wagtail ; and his attention was first directed to them by their very peculiar note. 

 They did not appear to be on friendly terms with some meadow pipits, which were con- 

 stantly endeavouring to drive them from their feeding ground. — Id. 



Note on a new yenus of Sylviadce. Zoological Society, January 9. — At the request 

 of the chairman, John Gould, Esq. called the attention of the meeting to a hitherto 

 undescribed bird from Western Australia, the habits of which he stated as follows. 

 The bird is an inhabitant of the close underwood of the country, neither making its 

 appearance in the open plains nor woods, thus rendering it extremely difficult to pro- 

 cure a specimen — the only means of securing it being to lie concealed in the thicket 

 until the bird hops into sight, within two or three yards of the observer. Its note is 

 the loudest of all the inhabitants of the grove. The great peculiarity which distin- 

 guished it from all others of the Sylviadae, and marked it at once as a new genus and 

 species, was the total absence of the vibrissas or bristles at the base of the mandibles. 

 From this fact, and the loudness of its voice, Mr. Gould proposed the name of Atricha 

 clamosa. 



Note on the Siskin. About the beginning of last month (December), I observed a 

 flock of siskins, consisting of about sixty individuals, in this neighbourhood. They 

 frequented some alder-trees by the side of the Jed, on the seeds of which they seemed 

 principally to subsist. They were not at all shy, but, with due precaution, would al- 

 low me to approach and stand under the tree on which they were feeding. It was a 

 pretty sight to see them all busily engaged in extracting their food from the catkins, 

 every bird quietly attending to its own employment, and in no wise interfering with 

 its neighbours. The various attitudes into which they would throw themselves in order 

 the more easily to obtain the seeds, were also exceedingly pleasing and graceful. When 

 disturbed they all took wing, and, uttering a somewhat harsh call- note, circled round 

 in the vicinity for a minute or two, and then alighted on some other tree. Once when 

 I had alarmed them, they betook themselves to a neighbouring wood, and dispersed 

 themselves up and down in small parties, and did not reassemble for some time. Up- 

 on this occasion I remarked that some of them resorted to the ground, among the wi- 

 thered leaves, in company with some tits that happened to be passing at the time; but 

 whether they were in search of insects or not, I could not ascertain. The call-note of 

 the siskins was repeated at intervals whilst flying. The seeds of the alder seem to be 

 the favourite food of the siskin in winter and spring ; and this circumstance will ac- 

 count, I think, for its irregular appearances and disappearances in various localities. 

 The abundance or scarcity of this food at different places and in different seasons, 

 must greatly influence its motions and partial migrations. In the Jul) No. (Zool.222) 



