Birds. 



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hills. As the author of ' Ornithological Rambles ' considers it a scarce bird in that 

 county a record of its capture may be interesting. When first seen the bird rose from 

 some thick furze, and at the height of about five feet above the bush remained dancing 1 

 and jerking in the air just like a whitethroat, singing noisily all the while. As I was 

 looking on with delight a second, no doubt the mate, appeared suddenly on the top of 

 a bush hard by, but as quickly dived out of sight again. After watching the bird 

 nearest to me for some time,— now creeping like a mouse among the furze stalks, now 

 appearing suddenly on the highest spray of a bush, but only for an instant, when it 

 would either dive in out of sight or fly away with a short jerky flight (not unlike that 

 of the longtailed tit) to another bush, — I began to think of securing the prize for my 

 collection ; but it was no easy matter to get a shot, because the furze was so thick, 

 the birds were only seen for a few seconds at a time, and again because the shot I had 

 with me was too heavy except at a long distance, when the birds were of course more 

 difficult to see. I found also that unlike most other birds that will fly out at once on 

 disturbing the bush they are in, these warblers remaiu hid until all is quiet, when they 

 again creep out, uttering two shrill notes, and make for the highest twig of the bush, 

 from whence to take flight to another. By keeping perfectly still therefore for some 

 time, with my eyes fixed on the spot where I had last seen one of the pair, my patience 

 was at last rewarded, and I got a shot. It proved to be a male in fine plumage, and 

 is now in my birdstufFer's hands for preservation. A friend who was with me tried 

 hard to secure the other bird, pursuing it for a long way through brambles and furze, 

 encountering thorns and scratches innumerable, but all to no purpose ; he suddenly lost 

 sight of it, and it never appeared again. I regret that I did not examine the contents 

 of the stomach of my specimen. I forgot to do so until too late. It appears wonderful 

 to think how so delicate a bird as the Dartford warbler can weather our climate during 

 the winter months, and in so exposed a situation too as the top of the South Downs. — 

 J. E. Ha r ting : Kingsbury, Middlesex, March 8, 1863. 



The Humming Birds Tongue. — In your review of Mr. Gould's magnificent ' Tro- 

 chilidae ' your description of the tongue in this family, though correct so far as it goes, 

 is incomplete. You say that you have had no opportunity of examining the organ, 

 and I do not think that the closest examination would be adequate in the dried state. 

 Possibly Mr. Gould himself has made no other, and I therefore beg to supplement 

 your observations with the following notes on the tongue of the recent T. Polytmus. 

 which I extract from my ' Birds of Jamaica,' p. 110, and with the accompanying 

 sketches, carefully made at the time, which have never been published. " The tongue 

 of this species (and doubtless others have a similar conformation) presents, when recent, 

 the appearance of two tubes laid side by side, united for half their length, but separate for 

 the remainder. Their substance is transparent, in the same degree as a good quill, which 

 they much resemble ; each tube is formed by a lamina rolled up, yet not so as to bring 

 the edges into aciual contact, for there is a longitudinal fissure on the outer side, 

 running up considerably higher than the junction of the tube; into this fissure the 

 point of a pin may be inserted and moved up and down the length. Near the tip the 

 outer edge of each lamina ceases to be convoluted, but is spread out and split at the 

 margin into irregular fimbriae, which point backward, somewhat like the vane of a 

 feather ; these are not barbs, however, but simply soft and flexible points, such as might 

 he produced by snipping diagonally the edge of a strip of paper. I conjecture that 

 the nectar of flowers is pumped up the tubes, and that minute insects are caught, when 

 in flower, in these spoon-like tips, their minute limbs being perhaps entangled in the 



