readers. Bill one-third shorter than the head, brownish yellow; cere yellow: nostrils oblique, oblong. Head and neck greyish ferruginous, feathers lanceolate acuminate, a few below the lower mandible linear acuminate; anterior and medial dorsal feathers ovate, abrupt, ferruginous, the margins lighter; posterior dorsal feathers dark chocolate brown, with a narrow lighter border, abrupt and shortly acuminate; tail coverts dark brown, lanceolate-ovate: tail-feathers twelve, somewhat cuneiform, yellowish- white: upper or dorsal alar feathers ovate, abrupt, dark brown, secondaries greyish chocolate, abrupt; quills thirty-six, dark brown: lower wing-coverts dark brown, abrupt, acuminate; lower alar feathers roundish lanceolate, light ferruginous: pectoral feathers lanceolate, greyish ferruginous: abdominal, hypochondrial and tibial feathers dark grey; upper abdominal bordered with ferruginous, ovate, those on the tibia lanceolate, abrupt: feet gamboge yellow, claws black. Scutella of the leg, 9; of middle toe, 16; of each of the side toes and hind toe, 6.
MEASUREMENT.
| inches. | inches. | ||
| Point of bill to end of tail, | 39 | Lore, | 11⁄10 |
| Utmost extent of wing, | 93 | Cere at the dorsum of bill, | 8⁄10 |
| Length of do. when closed | 26½ | Gape, | 37⁄10 |
| Point of bill to base of cere | 2½ | Nostrils, | 9⁄20 |
| Base of cere to back of head | 2⅔ |
Baltasound, December, 1842.
Short Communications about Birds.
Note on the Crossbill, (Loxia curvirostra). These birds were very plentiful in the south of Devon during the winter of 1838-9; and on the 10th of April, 1839, I saw a nest at Ogwell House, near Newton; it was built in a spruce fir tree, close to the stable, and appeared to be constructed in a somewhat similar manner to that of the greenfinch (Coccothraustes Chloris). The male had been shot, but the female still continued to attend the nest.—W.R. Hall Jordan; Teignmouth, November 24, 1842.
Note on Birds shot at Southend. The following birds were obtained by myself and a friend in the neighbourhood of Southend, Essex, during the last week of August and the two first of September.
| Ring Plover, Charadrius Hiaticula | Common Heron, Arclea cinerea |
| Grey Plover, Squatarola cinerea | Curlew, Numenius arquata |
| Lapwing or Peewit, Vanellus cristatus | Common Snipe, Scolopax Gallinago |
| Oyster-catcher, Hæmatopus Ostralegus | Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa melanura |
