556 Birds. 



well cultivated districts like ours, it rarely breeds here, and yet the se- 

 cluded thickets and tall luxuriant copses with which it is occasion- 

 ally spotted, might seem peculiarly adapted for the purposes of nidi- 

 fication. Skylarks, woodlarks, pipits and buntings, are its favourite 

 food, and if once pursued by him almost invariably become his vic- 

 tims. Whether the hobby is here a bird of passage or not, I have 

 never been able to determine, as he is by no means plentiful, although 

 this neighbourhood is peculiarly fertile in Raptores. I have met witl 

 him during the course of some years, in the months of April, May, 

 August and October; and in 1840, I noticed an individual in pursuit 

 of a skylark on the 28th of December. If he does migrate, he goes 

 about October and appears early in April. This little falcon, owinj 

 to its pretty plumage and quick flight, seems to have been peculiarly 

 formed for the purposes of falconry, and was much esteemed by oui 

 ancient nobility for its achievements in that once favourite amusement. 

 Glover, our county historian, acquaints us that " the late ingenious 

 and lamented Rev. Bache Thornhill of Stanton, who was unfortunate- 

 ly killed in the 1827, whilst out shooting, by the accidental discharge 

 of his friend's gun, practised with much success the art of falconry in 

 this county." J. J. Briggs. 



King's Newton, Melbourne, April, 1844. 



Rhymes relating to Birds. By Robert Dick Duncan, Esq. 



The following rhymes are perhaps a part of the curiosities of lite- 

 rature which should have no place here : but as all popular rhymes 

 may be regarded as evincing the nature and the amount of the know- 

 ledge possessed by our predecessors in a far bygone age, or by the 

 common people at the present day, they may not be altogether out 

 of place in a periodical like i The Zoologist.' The verses, with the 

 exception of the first ones, are such as are still sung by the boys of 

 the Lothians, as they go hand-in-hand a bird-nesting through the 

 woods and o'er the moors. 



There is scarcely a prejudice more general in this part of the coun- 

 try, not only amongst the young and uneducated, but also amongst 

 those whose experience and education might have taught them other- 

 wise, than the supposition that the cuckoo is a bird of prey — working 

 mischief among the lesser birds whenever it finds opportunity. The 

 following lines would lead us to infer that the same idea is prevalent 

 in England. 



