Three grosbeaks {Loxia coccotJiraiistcs) appeared 

 some years ago in my fields, in the winter ; one of 

 which I shot; since that, now and then, one is occa- 

 sionally seen in the same dead season. 



[Mr. B. shot a cock grosbeak which he had ob- 

 served to haunt his garden for more than a fortnight. 

 I began to accuse this bird of making sad havoc among 

 the buds of the cherries, gooseberries, and wall-fruit 

 of all the neighbouring orchards. Upon opening its 

 crop or craw, however, no buds were to be seen, but 

 a mass of kernels of the stones of fruits. Mr. B. ob- 

 served that this bird frequented the spot where plum- 

 trees grow; and that he had seen it with somewhat 

 hard in its mouth, which it broke with difficulty ; 

 these were the stones of damsons. The Latin orni- 

 thologists call this bird coccotJiraustcs, i. e., berry- 

 breaker, because with its large hornv beak it cracks 

 and breaks the shells of stone-fruits for the sake of 

 the seed or kernel. Birds of this sort are rarely seen 

 in England, and only in winter.] — Observations on 

 Nature. 



A cross-bill {Loxia ciirvirostra) was killed last year 

 in this neighbourhood. 



Our streams, which are small, and rise onlv at the 

 end of the village, yield nothing but the bull's head,"^ 

 or miller's thumb (Gobius fluviatilis capitatus), the 

 trout {Triitta fluviatilis), the eel {angiiilla), the 1am- 



* Salmo fario. Linn. 

 43 



