BOHEMIAN CHATTERER. 163 



sometimes in small parties of eight or ten. They have been 

 shot in many counties of England, even to the most southern 

 parts, although there comparatively more rare. The Rev. 

 Charles Bury, of Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight, says, " A 

 fine male of this species is now in the possession of Mr. 

 Grapes, of Newport : it was killed about fifteen years ago, 

 not far from Yarmouth.' 1 



Many other localities, too numerous to mention, are re- 

 corded by various naturalists, all tending to the same point, 

 namely, that this Chatterer, although not regular or nume- 

 rous, is a frequent visitant throughout England. 



It does not appear that this species penetrates at any time 

 much farther to the south than our island ; as we are not 

 aware of its being found either in Italy or Spain, or other 

 countries in a similar latitude. 



Dr. Richardson says of this species in America, that it is 

 not known to retreat below the 55th parallel of latitude. On 

 that continent the Bohemian Chatterer is found in flocks, 

 amounting to several hundreds, which frequent forests and 

 mountainous tracts, and feed upon the berries of the juniper, 

 the alpine arbutus, the marsh vaccinium, and other northern 

 shrubs of a similar kind. 



The nest and eggs of this species escaped even the researches 

 of the above named acute naturalist, who could only conjecture 

 that it retires in the breeding-season to rugged and secluded 

 limestone districts among the mountains, about the 67th and 

 68th parallels ; nor could he obtain from the native Indians 

 of those countries any certain intelligence on the subject. 



Our own personal observations of the manners of these 

 birds, have not been frequent or many, owing to their rarity ; 

 but we remember to have seen a pair of Bohemian Chatterers 

 in the plantations about Claremont, in Surrey, in the month 

 of January, 1837. They remained in that neighbourhood 

 several days, and we saw them more than once, perched to- 



M 2 



