one single solitary visit till February sets in; though they may be seen every day in congregated numbers in other parts of the park, where they roost in the elm and fir trees. During the winter months, they are exceedingly shy and timorous, seeking for safety in lofty flight, the moment they see you approach. They become quite silent towards the last week in October, and their notes are reduced to half their number for some days before they cease to coo entirely. At this period they discontinue those graceful risings and sinkings in the air, in which they appear to so much advantage during the whole of the breeding season.

Thus we have a bird which, during the course of the year, at one time approaches the haunts of man with wonderful assurance, and at another shuns them with a timidity equally astonishing. I speak only of its diurnal movements; for, at the close of day, both in winter and in summer, when not molested, this bird will come near to our out-buildings, and seek a roosting-place in the trees which surround them. This peculiarity of the ringdove in approaching so near to our mansions during the day in the breeding season, and then losing all confidence in us, as soon as incubation ceases, is not a mere accidental trait of one or two particular birds, whose usual habits may have been changed, either by want of food, or by protection offered; but it is inherent in the whole species, when the bird is allowed by man to follow Nature's unerring mandates.

I know of no British bird which has the colour of its plumage so constant as is that of the ringdove. I have never yet seen it vary; and the white spot or segment of a circle on the back of its neck, from which it takes its name, is always of the same size.

Ringdoves are exceedingly numerous here during summer; and when winter sets in, many thousands come every evening to take up their quarters for the night. They retire early to roost, and never leave the trees till all the other birds are on the stir.

As yet, all attempts to reclaim this pigeon have been of no avail. I should suppose that it is not in the power of man to make it breed within the walls of a dovecot. For my own part, I am not exactly aware that its reduction to domestication would be productive of much advantage to us. Let others offer it the same protection it enjoys with me, and there would always be an ample supply of ringdoves to fill their groves with softest murmurs, and furnish their tables with a delicious repast. Connoisseurs tell us that the flesh of the ringdove, in winter, has the flavour of moor game: I

have fed on pigeons in many countries, but cannot say that I ever found them vary in taste from the pigeon which inhabits our common dovecots. Much, perhaps, depends upon the cooking. The culinary art, no doubt, with other important sciences, has derived much benefit from the march of intellect. In London they will serve you up a ram cat for a Martlemas rabbit; and we are told that in Paris a pair of old hunting boots can be stewed down into a very excellent and wholesome soup.

"Nil equidem durare diu sub imagine eâdem
Crediderim."

These cooks will suffer nothing to remain
In pristine flavour, or its shape retain.

Walton Hall, May 21. 1834.

CHARLES WATERTON.

ART. V. Sketches of the Natural History of my Neighbourhood. No. 2., Fragments of Ornithology. By C. CONWAY, Esq., of Pontnewydd Works, Monmouthshire.

WHAT I have to say respecting the birds of my neighbourhood may be very insignificant, and beneath the notice of the ornithologist: I am sorry for it. I am no ornithologist; yet, when I run after butterflies [VI. 224. 541.], or ramble about the country to gather flowers, I cannot shut my eyes when a bird flits by me, nor stop my ears when he chooses to cheer me with his song. Observations gathered under such circumstances are what I have now to offer. Some classification, however, appeared to be necessary; but, as I do not profess to be a scientific ornithologist, that which was most accessible appeared to be the best suited to my purpose, and I have therefore made use of that furnished in Stark's Elements of Natural History: and now for our gossip.

I. RAPACES. Falco 'salon (Merlin), F. Tinnunculus (Kestrel), F. Nisus (Sparrowhawk), F. Milvus (Kite), F. Buteo (Common Buzzard), F. rufus (Moor Buzzard), F. cyaneus (Henharrier).—I believe that this list contains all the falcons of my neighbourhood; and these are, perhaps, quite enough for one small locality. The merlin is, probably, the scarcest of them.

Is it a Fact that Hawks have such Power of Sight as is generally presumed?-I recollect seeing a sparrowhawk once in pursuit of a redbreast, and almost in the act of capturing him; but the redbreast turning short round the angle of a building, the hawk flew directly against it, and absolutely

dashed out his brains! I have also known a hawk to pounce upon a bird hung up in a cage by a window; when he, missing his mark, dashed in through the glass, and was captured. Is this owing to any defect of sight? or is the attention so taken up with one object that another is not perceived?

The Tenacity with which the Falcons grasp their Prey has frequently excited my admiration; for I have seen them disturbed in every possible way, and yet making off with the prize: nay, I have even seen them killed, and yet retain their prey in their grasp. As an instance, perhaps the following will be sufficient:- A neighbour of mine, a keen sportsman, was one day sitting by his kitchen-fire, when he heard a great clattering in his poultry-yard. Well knowing the meaning of such an uproar, he immediately started up, and, seizing his gun, determined to be revenged upon the aggressor. When he reached the yard, he observed a moor buzzard just clearing the top of one of his barleyricks, with a chicken in its claws. The buzzard was immediately fired at and struck severely, but escaped from sight. The following day, its carcass was found at some distance, and the chicken running about the same field uninjured. I have known instances in which the captive has been totally unable to release himself; and the sportsman has been absolutely obliged to open the claws of the dead bird in order to set the liberty."

prey at

The Kestrel pays me a visit almost daily; hovering for a considerable time in the air, then taking a rapid sweep to another part of the field, and there, again, hovering for another long space of time, apparently in the utmost enjoyment. What name can better describe the habits of such a bird than the wind-hover?

That fine Bird the Kite, though, I believe, a very local * [See P. 150. On the fact there quoted from the Field Naturalist, Mr. Bree has since remarked as follows:

The combat between the hawk and magpie, mentioned in p. 150., reminds me of

A Method of catching Magpies [and other Species of Birds], which, I have been told, has been practised with success. A live magpie is fastened down to the ground on its back. In this situation, the noise which the bird makes, together with its exertions to release itself, attracts the attention of other magpies, who come to its assistance. The first unfortunate bird which ventures within reach is so firmly grasped in the claws of the captive, that it may be taken up by the hand and secured, in order to be tied down in like manner to ensnare others: and thus the magpies are made to inveigle their own kind. This is no new method of entrapping birds: if I remember right, an exact representation of it is given in one of the curious prints of hunting pieces by Anthony Tempesta, who flourished between 1555 and 1630. In the same set of prints are representations of some other very curious methods of catching birds and other wild animals, as well as of the diversion of riding a crocodile. - W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, April 16. 1834.]

bird, is plentiful in this neighbourhood, our extensive woods furnishing him with a secure retreat. The great size and brilliant markings of this bird render it an object of no inconsiderable beauty when dead; but its calm and easy and circuitous flight, as it wheels aloft in endless mazes until it vanishes from sight, and making the air resound with its ceaseless mewings, on a bright summer's day, renders it a sure source of interest when alive. The power of flight in this bird is amazing: I frequently watch him wheeling round and round and round, until my eye is completely fatigued, and yet not a feather appears to be in motion except the forked tail. How does he propel himself forward in such

instances?

The Dispute respecting the Identity of the Henharrier and the Ringtail is, I presume, sufficiently settled; and I need not, therefore, make any further allusion to it. I have now before me a fine specimen of this bird, shot close by, in which the plumage of the ringtail is still visible on the breast and the crown of the head, while all the other parts of the body are covered with the plumage of the henharrier.

Strix O'tus (Eared Owl), S. strídula (Brown Owl), S. flámmea (Barn Owl). —The brown owl and barn owl are common here, though the object of the inveterate persecution of the gamekeepers; whether for any just reason or not, I cannot say: but, just or unjust, I certainly must say that I regret it; for the brown owl's note (whether uttered in в flat, as stated by White, or not, I am not musician enough to distinguish) is a "rural sound" which I always hear with pleasure, however uncouth it may sound in "ears polite." Of the eared owl I had never a specimen until February last; when I had a fine pair sent me, which were killed, in a fir plantation on the side of one of our mountains, by the gamekeeper of B. Hall, Esq. M.P. They are the only pair, I believe, that have ever been seen in this neighbourhood. Perhaps I may as well make a few remarks in this place respecting

Eggs of Anomalous Structure. - "We shall here instance imperfect eggs sometimes produced, such as want the vitellus, and others containing two yolks." (Montagu, on "Eggs of Birds," in Rennie's edition of the Dict., p. 166.) "When, from the same cause, the growth of the vitellus in the ovarium is too luxuriant, two yolks pass the oviduct together; which, being surrounded with the usual quantity of albumen, are brought forth in the form of a single egg of extraordinary magnitude." (Ibid., p. 167.) This irregularity in the state of the egg is not of common occurrence amongst birds in their native state, but is much more frequent amongst domestic poultry; I

have, however, the egg of a crow, of very diminutive size and uncouth shape; but it had been kept so long before I knew of its existence, that its contents were dried up, and, consequently, I cannot speak of its internal formation. I have also the eggs of the queest [ringdove or wood pigeon], of very small size. The nest was taken on the 18th of April; and, from the small size of the egg, I presumed it was that of a turtle-dove, although I had never known this bird to visit us so early in the season: however, in extracting the contents of the eggs, I found that neither of them contained any yolk. But, the most irregular egg that I have at all met with is that of a domestic hen. It weighed 1425 grs., and is as uncouth in shape as it was extraordinary in size. The shell is divided into three compartments or swellings, and contained three yolks; a case not recorded by Montagu in the article. from which I have already quoted.* [See, in II. 289., a statement of the anomalous conditions of a pheasant's egg; and, in III. 472., one on those of "an egg within an egg, produced by a goose: the instances, in VI. 184., of remarkably spotted eggs of the common fowl may just be pinned to the present subject.]

[Facts and Considerations on the Conditions which appertain to Birds in the producing of their Eggs.]- Whether birds have or have not a power to retain or expel their eggs at pleasure, appears to be almost as unsettled a matter as the cause of their song. "Those who suppose a bird capable of producing eggs at will, are certainly mistaken. It will . . . . lay the number allotted by nature, which is determined before the first egg is produced. If it is prevented from incubation by any means whatever, it may begin again to lay in five or six days; but there is always an interval of a few days, and sometimes as many weeks, which must wholly depend on the

* Mr. Conway had, in a communication dated May 24. 1833, favoured us with a drawing of the anomalous egg of the fowl, and one of that of the crow. The drawings are stated to be of the natural size, and exhibit the following dimensions and figures: — The drawing of the fowl's egg is 3 in. and a tenth and a half in length, and 1 in. and 8 tenths in breadth; the outline is that of an ellipsis, as the two ends are similar in form and dimension, but has its curve slightly interrupted in three or four places by a just perceptible protrusion, exhibiting, of course, slight prominences in these places in the egg itself. The drawing of the crow's egg is in outline a prolate spheroid, or nearly so; and its longer diameter is scarcely 9 tenths of an inch, and shorter one full 7 tenths. This extraordinary example seems an apposite, and, we suppose, is an extreme, illustration of the accuracy of the remark of Mr. Waterton in VI. 209.; namely, the eggs of the carrion crow are "wonderfully irregular in size and shape and colour." Mr. Waterton has also remarked, in VII. 105., that the eggs of the rook vary much in colour, shape, and size. -J. D.