8678 



Birds. 



it bad a circular steel trap attached to its left foot, by which it had become entangled 

 in the branches, and which it had evidently carried for some time, the wound caused 

 by it having nearly healed, though the leg and foot were still much enlarged. It was 

 purchased by Mr. Bilson, taxidermist, of Bury, from whom I obtained it on the 3rd 

 of June. — Thomas H. Allis ; York, June 25, 1863. 



Correction of an Error. — In my paper on the occurrence of rare hawks (Zool. 8523) 

 I have been informed of an error. Head " Greenland falcon (F. grcenlandicus)" instead 

 of "Iceland falcon." — H. Blake- Knox ; Bartragh, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, May 27, 

 1863. 



The Jer Falcon and Orangelegged Hobby in Devonshire.— When I was at Devonport, 

 a few days since, I took the opportunity of calling upon Mr. Pincombe, naturalist, to ascer- 

 tain some particulars of the capture of the jer falcon at or near Port Eliot, St. German's, 

 which took place several years since. He has still the bird in his possession, and in 

 remarkably good preservation : it is a good example of a male bird three or four 

 years old. The specimen which was killed at the Lizard some years since, and which 

 passed into the hands of the late Mr. Humphrey Grylls, of Helston, was, I think from 

 its larger size, a female bird. Both this and Mr. Pincombe's bird show symptoms of 

 approaching maturity, from the brown spots being at the tip of the feathers, instead of 

 the feathers having a general border or margin of this colour, which is the fiist change 

 after the brown adolescent plumage. We thus can claim this fine Arctic falcon as 

 having occurred in the eastern as well as the western part of Cornwall. Mr. Pincombe 

 at the same time called my attention to an adult specimen of the orangelegged hobby, 

 which was sent to him from the parish of Wembury, on the Devonshire side of Ply- 

 mouth Sound, some years since. We may all but claim this species as an addition to 

 the Cornish Fauna, as the exact spot where it occurred, although in Devonshire, is 

 within two or three miles of Cornwall. This is the example of the bird which Mr. 

 Yarrell refers to as having been in a Museum at Devonport, and killed not far off. — 

 Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, June 12, 1863. 



The Goshawk (Falco palumbarius) Nesting in Yorkshire. — This spring the nest of 

 this rare bird was found in some ivy which surrounds an old oak tree which is situate 

 in the boundary hedge of a plantation. I did not see the nest, but the three eggs were 

 of a very pale blue. They were unfortunately broken by one of the possessor's children. 

 — J. Ranson ; York. 



Abnormal Nests of Missel Thrush, fyc. — I have sent you a few nests, and in doing so I 

 have confined myself chiefly to common varieties not mentioned in ' Birdsnesting.' When 

 the controversy arose on the nest of the missel thrush, several correspondents wrote*in 

 rather an acrimonious spirit, attributing an inaccuracy in your description, which, it 

 will be found, did not wholly exist. Respecting the mud-lined nests, it is certain that 

 they are much commoner in rainy seasons; but I am unable to account for this, except 

 on my own hypothesis, which is this: the missel thrush is a well-known early breeder; 

 the eggs would therefore, in a wet spring, run a great risk of being chilled did not the 

 bird provide against such a catastrophe by lining its nest with mud, which, when 

 thoroughly dry, would, comparatively speaking, be impervious to exterior dampness. 

 I have been led to this conclusion from having, ou more than one occasion, seen the 

 old bird sitting in a mud-lined nest,— as I presume, to assist in drying the mud, — some 

 few days before finally lining it with fine dried grass. I have enclosed two of these 

 unfinished nests, Nos. 2 and 7, taken on the 20th of March, 1862. The nests for- 

 warded may be thus described: — 



