Birds. 



6763 



weather, but yet all the dead birds you examine have unmistafceable marks about them 

 of having died from starvation. — Murray A. Mathews ; Raleigh, near Barnstaple, 

 October 5, 1859, 



Showers of Feathers. — Tt is with great reluctance that I venture to reproduce this 

 subject in the pages of the 1 Zoologist,' but Capt. Blakiston's hasty and somewhat dis- 

 dainful reply to my inquiry is not quite satisfactory. That gentleman has entirely 

 mistaken my meaning. I did not for a moment deny the possibility of " feathers 

 scudding in a breeze;" and I agree with him in believing that it is generally known 

 that feathers are capable of being wafted by the wind. Nor did I propose that goose 

 down should be seut to England for the purpose of making " experiments," but merely 

 to afford an interesting and tangible proof to an inquisitive and incredulous mind. If 

 we "let loose at a window" all the "chaff" in Capt. Blakiston's letter instead of 

 " extracting a handful from our bed," nothing but the following sentence remains : — 

 " And as to mistaking feathers for snow, I answer by asking was the latter ever seen 

 floating on water ? * but nothing of this sort seems to be mentioned in the first notice 

 of the subject (Zool. 6324). I there find that the writer " witnessed a shower of 

 feathers," and that " it appeared to be snowing.'' This statement immediately brought 

 to my mind some passages of Herodotus (Zool. 6442), in which he says that showers 

 of feathers were always mistaken by the northern Scythians for falls of snow. Having 

 compared these observations of the ancient traveller and the modern, and found them 

 exactly contrary, surely I am justified in expecting a fuller explanation than that I 

 have received, and I shall be greatly indebted to Capt. Blakiston if he will comply 

 with my request at the earliest convenient opportunity. Was he in the midst of the 

 shower, or at a distance ? Did the flying goose-down extend over a large region of 

 air? Are the Indians in the habit of carrying on the " operation of goose plucking'' 

 to such an enormous degree as to cause it to rain feathers ? Perhaps they observe a 

 sort of Michaelmas day, in which whole tribes, individually aud collectively, indulge 

 in goose-flesh ; or, perhaps, they were merely " extracting handfulls from their beds '' 

 to make " experiments," and astonish the natives of the neighbourhood. With every 

 apology to Capt. Blakiston for having aroused his indignation by presuming to imagine 

 that he could possibly have mistaken feathers for snow flakes, I sincerely hope he will 

 prove that his account of " showers of feathers'' possesses more authenticity than the 

 old story of" showers of frogs." — T. W. Greene ; September 26, 1859. 



[I hope the subject may not be allowed to drop, merely adding that I believe it 

 quite impossible for an observer of Capt. Blakiston's experience to have mistaken snow 

 for feathers : I was surprised that such a suggestion should be made. Such showers 

 of feathers are not so rare as either of my correspondents seem to suppose. — Edward 

 Newman]. 



Hawfinch breeding at Musivell Hill. — Having noticed in this month's number of 

 the ' Zoologist ' an account of the appearance of the hawfinch at Selborne, it occurred 

 to me to mention that a pair of these birds built in the spring of this year, as far as I 

 can recollect, in the end of May or beginning of June, in an apple tree in a garden, at 

 Muswell Hill, near London. The gardener there informed me one afternoon that he 

 had just destroyed a nest, which he believed to be that of a butcher bird, and killed 

 the five young ones which it contained, and that the old birds were still perched on an 

 adjacent elm tree, uttering a harsh note. On repairing to the spot I found one of 

 them had disappeared ; but with some difficulty, for it was very wary, I succeeded in 

 shooting the other, which, upon examination, proved to be a female hawfinch. I also 



