Birds. 725 



being augmented in numbers, grow gradually larger, until they become of such mag- 

 nitude as oftentimes to consist of many thousands ; and when the whole body settles 

 in a pasture, the ground which they cover seems overspread with one wide, spacious 

 pall (owing to the sable plumage of the birds) ; and when affrighted, the birds gene- 

 rally rise in a body, and after wheeling through the air for some time, alight upon the 

 top of a broad oak or elm tree, which seems nearly bowed down with the weight of its 

 burden ; and when in such situations, it is auythiug but unpleasant to listen to their 

 chattering voices. About the end of September or beginning of October, the greater 

 part of them disappear, leaving however some small parties of from eight to forty birds 

 behind. These winter here, feeding in meadows and grass lands, in company with 

 rooks, jackdaws or lapwings, and during frosts and snows subsist upon the small par- 

 ticles which drop from the hay with which the farmers fodder their cattle in the field. 

 In spriug these small parties increase in numbers by the arrival of other flocks, as we 

 have before described. When attacked by hawks, and other birds of prey, they 

 form themselves into a close compact body, which is in continual motion, and con- 

 stantly presents some new front to its adversary ; in this manner they have been seen 

 upwards of an hour, assuming the shape and exact appearance of a balloon. — /. J. 

 Briggs. 



Note on the Swift. I observe White in his History of Selbome notes the late ap- 

 pearance of the swift on the 26th of August. I this year saw one swift on the 28th 

 of August ; and two together, squealing, on Sunday, September 1. — F. Wayne ; Much 

 Wenlock, Salop., Sept. 12, 1844. 



Anecdote of the Breeding of the Greg Parrot in England. In a former number, 

 (Zool. 104), is recorded an instance of the grey parrot having laid eggs in this coun- 

 try. The circumstances under which this occurred are sufficiently curious, and de- 

 serving of notice, but the following particulars are still more curious, relating, as they 

 do, to the completion of the process of incubation, in the production of young birds ; 

 and may, I trust, prove interesting to the readers of ' The Zoologist.' Two grey par- 

 rots (Psittacus erithacus) were purchased in the market of Sierra Leone in 1840, when 

 about six months old. They were brought to England, and then separated, one being 

 domiciled at Hull, the other at Riccall, near York. In February, 1842, they were 

 united at Riccall ; and in the July following, the female laid three eggs. She made 

 no nest, and the eggs were taken from her. They were perfectly white, and about the 

 size of a pigeon's egg. On the 10th of June, 1843, she again commenced laying, and 

 laid two eggs. A nest was now made for her of flannel, and placed in a copper near 

 the fire-place, where the old bird sat exactly four weeks, and one bird was hatched. 

 This bird was reared, and is now in London. She again began laying in November 

 last, and produced three eggs ; on these she sat four weeks, and two birds were hatch- 

 ed : one of these soon died from cold, but the other is still living, and is a very flue 

 bird. The cock bird occasionally assisted the female in sitting on the eggs. I have 

 not had time to search for similar instances, but it is probable that some might be 

 found, though they certainly are matters of rare occurrence. I have thought it best 

 to give a complete history of the birds down to the present time ; and for the power to 

 do so, I am indebted to the kindness of R. Fielding, Esq., the intelligent surgeon of 

 the place where the fact occurred. It is strange that a second brood should have been 

 hatched so late in the year as November : even in birds of our own climate, this would 

 have been considered an extraordinary circumstance, but how much more so in the 

 transplanted inhabitant of a tropical climate. The natural number of eggs appears 



