Birds. 



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with their dates, as it will be of assistance in tracing their spreading over the country. 

 I had the carcass dressed, and I find the flesh rather dark, but juicy and very well 

 flavoured, — so good, in fact, that I shall be glad to try it again : a good plan to serve 

 them up is with bread crumbs fried and a lemon : it should not be too much roasted ; 

 a little paste should be put over it, to keep in the juice, which otherwise would escape, 

 from its being skinned ; this should be taken off just before it is quite cooked, and a 

 little flour and butter dusted over it and slightly browned, to disguise its want of a 

 skin. — William Thompson ; Weymouth, December 12, 1858. 



Occurrence of the Goldenivinged Woodpecker in England. — I have in my collection 

 a specimen of the goldenwinged woodpecker, killed in Amesbury Park, in the autumn 

 of 1836. My brother, now Member for Salisbury, saw this bird in the flesh before it 

 was preserved ; it was brought to him just after it was shot. I have never heard of 

 any other specimen of this bird being killed in England: it is, I believe, a native of 

 South America. It is something like the common green woodpecker, but has more 

 yellow on the wing, and black spots on the breast. It was preserved by Mr. Edwards, 

 of Amesbury, and has never been out of my possession. — George S. Marsh; Chip- 

 jtenham ; December 10, 1858. 



Birds Nests : Nests of the Green Woodpecker and Nuthatch. — Among the subjects 

 which have solicited the attention of the readers of the ' Zoologist' there are few which 

 have obtained less general notice than the nests of birds : I have supposed therefore 

 that it may be acceptable if I were to communicate to its pages some observations 

 which I have had an opportunity of making on the nests of such of our feathered 

 tribes as do not frequently fall in the way of naturalists, or of which, at least, distinct 

 accounts, drawn from personal observation, are not often met with. I will begin with 

 the nests of the common green woodpecker and the nuthatch, — birds which I class 

 together, not only from the great similarity of their habits, but also because I have had 

 an opportunity of studying the proceedings of those species at the same time and in 

 the same neighbourhood, which is on the south-east border of the county of Cornwall, 

 in which district, I may further remark, it has been said that the last-named bird is 

 not to be found. On the rather extensive lawns that run eastward from the ancient 

 mansion of Trelawny there are some very ancient chestnut trees, which stand singly 

 at the distance of several yards from each other; and it is in such a sitaation that the 

 green woodpecker usually, perhaps invariably, forms its nest, for the watchfulness of 

 this bird is too great to suffer it to choose a place from which it shall not be able to 

 discern an intruder at a considerable distance. In one of those trees, much fallen 

 back from its ancient splendour of foliage and growth, I have remembered the existence 

 of the nest for more than thirty years, — a curious instance of local attachment, which 

 is not the less deserving of record because it is probable that they are not the same 

 birds which have occupied the place so long: it has at least descended from one 

 generation to another, without interruption, and an incident occurred in the course of 

 the last summer which tends to show that it is not a small matter which shall cause 

 these birds to forsake their long-accustomed haunt, to which their ancestors had 

 probably resorted for many years beyond the number I have assigned to them. It is 

 only a single tree which has thus been selected, although there are others that appear 

 to offer equal convenience ; but the nest-holes are two in number, although I have 

 reason to believe that they were occupied by no more than a single pair of birds: my 

 supposition is that one of those recesses is properly the nest, in which the eggs are 

 hatched, while the other serves as the resting-place of the male bird: one of the holes 



