888 
MiSCELLAm'. 
Occurrence op the Grey Shrike (Lanius excuhitor') in the Vicinity op 
Scarborough. —This bird is occasionally met with here. A very fine specimen 
of the male was shot within a mile of Scarborough by Mr. J. Wilson, and given 
to me immediately after. One was also shot by Mr. Samuel Taylor, of Bleach- 
held, and is now in his possession."^ In the year 1832 another was taken. A 
fourth, shot in 1835, at Cloughton, near this town, is in the Scarborough Museum. 
—Patrick Hawkridge, Scarborough^ Aug. 7, 1837. 
Relative Abundance of the Warblers (Sylma) in Surrey.— The Dark¬ 
legged Warbler (Sylvia loquaxj is in this neighbourhood rarer than I can well 
account for, though quite common in several places about four or five miles 
distant, or even less. We always hear a few of them in spring and autumn, 
but this season not one has bred in the neighbourhood, although the Willow 
Warbler literally abounds. It is more confined to the woods than S. trochilus. 
I^See Mr. Salmon’s communication on the relative abundance of the Warblers in 
Norfolk, p. 385].— Edward Blyth, Tooting^ Surrey^ Oct. 3, 1835. 
Wanderings and Ponderings of an Insect-hunter. —It is known to every 
book-writer that the preface is the very end of his labours. Still, such is the 
mendaciousness of man, that he always places it at the beginning—the author of 
Tristram Shandy excepted, who voraciously places it where he wrote it—in the 
middle. I think it is rather new to put the preface at the end. 
The reader, the courteous and gentle reader of the ^Entomological Magazine^ 
has observed divers wood-cuts, having no apparent connexion with the text: 
thus, a public-house was made to illustrate Bowerbank On the Circulation of 
the Blood; and a quaker’s meeting-house embellished Douglas’s Random 
Thoughts. Now, although the sapients may attempt to prove that the public- 
houses cause a circulation of the blood, and that quakers’ meeting-houses are 
places for random thoughts, be it distinctly understood that no conclusions of the 
kind were intended. Again, the residence of Thomas Rogers is to be placed at 
the end of this article, whether convenient or inconvenient, although that great 
man is yet in need of an introduction to my readers; moreover, in the next 
space an intended representation of the Needles, as seen from Alum Bay, is to 
be introduced. All these were designed by the Insect-hunter as illustrations of 
his Wanderings.” They represent very faithfully the objects from which they 
were drawn; although, in justice to the engravers, it should be stated, that they 
complained grievously of the want of composition in the drawings, and also of 
their being positively commanded to make exact copies without embellishment. 
In these respects tastes widely differ. The Insect-hunter likes faithful repre¬ 
sentations of all things. He would rather possess exact though homely likenesses 
* In all cases of the occurrence of rare birds and other animals, it tvould be interesting to know 
the dates.— Ed. 
