Birds. 



8767 



young of Carpodacus crythrinus. Mr. Rowley's specimen, which I now offer Cor your 

 inspection, seems to me without doubt to he a female of the common greenfinch, but 

 is distinguished from the ordinary type by an entire absence of yellow colouring-, which 

 Is replaced by nearly pure white, and the whole bird is generally of a paler hue. One 

 or two friends to whom I have shown it are inclined to suppose it a hybrid between 

 the greenfinch and the common linnet; but of such an origin I perceive no indication 

 either in the plumage or structure. Now Dr. Jaubert, who is without doubt a natu- 

 ralist peculiarly fitted to form an opinion on the subject, has stated — I may almost 

 say proved — that at least the male of the so-called Fringilla incerta is a curious 

 variety — probably caused by confinement — of Carpodacus erythrinus ; and his view of 

 the case has been endorsed by Dr. Gloger. It is certainly not for me, who know very 

 little about the matter, to questiou his solution ; but Prince Bonaparte is also no mean 

 authority, and his so long referring the Fringilla incerta to the group Chlorospiza, 

 rather than to Carpodacus, must not be forgotten. It appears, then, to me that the 

 only way of reconciling these conflicting opinions is by the supposition that this Frin- 

 gilla incerta, which has caused so much perplexity to ornithologists, has been made 

 up of the abnormal plumages of two species ; the male being founded, as Dr. Jaubert 

 says on flaveseent, if I may coin a word wanted to express a variation not uncommon 

 in many classes of animals, examples of Carpodacus erythrinus ; and the female, as I 

 have here suggested, on under-coloured specimens of Chlorospiza chloris. P.S. 5th 

 May, 1862. — If uncertainty of opinion be ever allowed to a naturalist, perhaps it is 

 pardonable in the case of Fringilla incerta. Since I communicated the foregoing con- 

 jecture to the Society, I have had an opportunity of examining Prince Bonaparte's 

 great work the ' Fauna Italica.' I must honestly confess that the bills of both the 

 birds represented in plate 38 have the convex character peculiar to the genus Carpo- 

 dacus. Under these circumstances I can only say that my supposition must go for 

 what it is worth, which I fear may be very little ; and I trust to the ornithologists of 

 the South of Europe to clear up the matter more fully, by examining any specimens 

 that maybe contained in Prince Bonaparte's collection. — Alfred Newton, in ' Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society ,' April 8, 1862. 



Alleged Scarcity of Swifts and Swallows. — I have just read the communication 

 from Mr. Boulton (Zool. 8726) respecting the scarcity of swifts and swallows at 

 Beverley. This has caused me much surprise, for, liviug as I do only about eight 

 miles from Beverley, I have several times during the past summer noticed what I con- 

 sidered an unusual number of these birds flying about. Certainly of swifts I have 

 seen as many as twenty together flying over our garden in the evening. I cannot 

 therefore account for the scarcity at Beverley, only so short a way distant. — George 

 Norman ; Hull, September 2, 1863. 



The Sapsucker. — Mr. E. A. Samuels, in the ' Wisconsin Farmer,' — probably mis- 

 led by some blundering newspaper report of the remarks (not lecture) of the Rev. 

 P. R. Hoy, of Racine, Wisconsin, on the habits, &c, of the sapsucker, made before 

 the Illinois Horticultural Society, — has done that careful, accurate and scientific 

 naturalist much injustice, accusing him of things of which he is not guilty. Dr. J. P. 

 Rutland, of Ohio, was the first naturalist who expressed his belief in the " popular 

 opinion" on this subject, but unfortunately he did not investigate the matter. Dr. 

 Hoy has recently ascertained that the food of the sapsucker is the juice and inner bark of 

 trees, and has presented the facts verbally, as indicated above. This little bird differs 

 so much from the true woodpeckers that Professor S. F. Baird very properly made it 



