6446 



Birds. 



narrow red occipital band, agreeing exactly with Audubon's figure and description. 

 The value, however, of this distinction does not seem to be much, as we know that the 

 immature males of Picus major have the head much suffused with crimson, while in 

 adult birds it becomes merely a small patch at the occiput ; and John Cassin 

 (' Illustrations of Birds of North A m erica,' published at Philadelphia, 1856), says " the 

 young male of Picus pubescenshas the head above entirely crimson ; the adult, a nar- 

 row occipital band.'' Second, the back in Picus pnbescens was pure white, without 

 any trace of black bars, while mine is distinctly barred : Audubon makes no mention 

 of black bars on the back. Third, the black stripe from the eye in Picus pubescens 

 differs in commencing wider than the eye, swelling out in the centre and contracting 

 gradually to the crimson band ; while in my specimen it is narrowest by the eye, equal 

 to the width of the eye only, and widens gradually, ending abruptly truncated. 

 Fourth, the white bar nearest the shoulder in one specimen of Picus pubescens, 

 examined, was hardly apparent, consisting only of a few confused spots, and not 

 forming a distinct bar from the second bar; in another specimen, the development of 

 this bar was more complete, but nothing like, in distinctness and regularity, my speci- 

 men, where the black interval is very clear. Fifth, Length of the two Picus pubescens 

 examined, was 0^ in., that of mine Of in.; Audubon's measurement 6f in.; widest 

 span of toes and claws in Picus pubescens 1$ in. ; in mine, 1$ in.; the bill of Picus 

 pubescens was less robust than mine. Sixth, under parts of Picus pubescens much 

 whiter than in mine, which are more like the under parts of Picus minor. A 

 description in Audubon of a species he calls " Picus Gairdnerii (which appears, how- 

 ever, to be only a variety of Picus pubescens) agreed with mine in the quantity of 

 crimson on the head. 



I have given these distinctions, minutely, more for the purpose of showing that I 

 am of opinion myself that my bird is " Picus pubescens," than to try and show it to be 

 distinct. Its distinctness from Picus minor is clear enough, and, but for the barred 

 back, which may, however, be only the immature state, there appears but little in the 

 above distinctions to justify its claim to a "species" of itself. My chief reasou for 

 wishing the above descriptions to be made known, is to get collectors to compare with 

 them all their specimens of British small spotted woodpeckers, and also to gel further 

 descriptions of the true Picus pubescens. I have been minute in describing the 

 shooting, &c. of ray specimen, because it is necessary to be particular when a native 

 of a foreign land is brought forth as an inhabitant of Britain, after having been killed 

 so long. — O. Pickard-Cambridge ; Southport, Lancashire, February 4, 1859. 



A Hen catching a Mouse. — Whilst one of my brothers was out riding this morning, 

 in passing a farmyard, he saw a barn-fowl (a hen) seize a mouse which was running 

 into a stack, catch it in its beak, and throw it about a foot up into the air ; this it 

 repeated three or four times, letting it come on the ground each time; not being a 

 naturalist, he did not stay to see the result, but he says it was in a very fair way of 

 being killed. — W. H. Leatham, Jan., ; Hemsworth Hall, near Pontefract, Yorkshire, 

 February 5, 1859. 



Occurrence of the Little Bustard near Padstow. — A female little bustard was shot 

 in a turnip-field very near the town of Padstow, in the early part of January last, and 

 the fact was kindly communicated by C. G. P. Brune, Esq., of Prideaux Place, Pad- 

 slow. — Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, February 10, 1859. 



Birds Singing at Night. — On the night of Tuesday, the 18th ult., or rather the 

 25th, the moonlight was particularly strong, from the vertical position of the full 



