p. 887) while Latham two years later (Ind. Orn. i. p. 418)
named it E. tunstalli. This specimen being fortunately
well preserved, still exists, with what remains of Tunstall’s
collection, in the Museum of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and on
January 15th, 1828, was exhibited by Mr. Fox to the Lin-
nean Society (Trans, Linn. Soc. xvi. p. 752), when it proved
to he identical with the well-known E. hortulana of Linnaeus.
In May 1822, another specimen, now also in the
same museum, was caught on board a collier, a few miles off
the Yorkshire coast, and having been obtained by Mr. Fox
(Synops. Newc. Mus. p. 69), formed the subject of Bewick’s
woodcut of this species,* while, in November 1827, a fine
male was killed near Manchester (Zool. Journ. iii. p. 498),
and having passed into the possession of the Author of this
work was figured by Selby. In the winter of 1836-37
another male was netted near London, and deposited in the
Zoological Gardens, as recorded by Blyth (Mag. Nat. Hist.
N. Ser. i. p. 441). On April 29th, 1841, a fine specimen,
now in the possession of Mr. Borrer (Ann. Nat. Hist. vii.
p. 524), was shot on the viaduct of the London and Brighton
Railway, near the Brighton station; and a male was shot
April 27th, 1852, between Lancing and Worthing (Zool.
p. 3476).
The appearance in England of several other examples of
the Ortolan has since been recorded. One was killed in
Scilly early in October 1851 (Zool. p. 3277), and one is
said to have occurred in the Isle of Wight in 1867 (Zool.
s.s. p. 912). An immature male killed near Shoreham is in
Mr. Knox’s collection; one was limed at Brighton September
30th, 1870 (Zool. s.s. p. 2383), and another is said to
have been taken there early in May of the following year
(Zool. s.s. 2682). Lord Clifton believes he saw one at
Cobham in Kent April 10th, 1866 (Zool. s.s. p. 270) ;
three are said by Capt. Kennedy on Mr. Sharpe’s authority
to have been shot at Cookham, while as many are mentioned
by Mr. Harting as having been caught at Kilburn in Mid-
* Bewick adds that about the same time a pair were seen in the garden at
Cherryburn, on the banks of the Tyne.
dlesex, of which one is in Mr. Bond’s collection. An adult
male was obtained May 5th, 1859, at Lowestoft (Zool.
p. 6602). It has been stated that in the summer of 1838 one
was killed at Earlham in Norfolk; in April 1866 one is said
to have been netted at Yarmouth in the same county, and in
1871, six examples were sent to London from that place,
which were said to have been caught there on May 5th
(Trans. Norf. and Norw. Nat. Soc. 1871-72, p. 62).. Two of
these were placed in the Zoological Gardens by Mr. Bond
(Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 775), and two were in Mr. R.
H. Gurney’s possession. Further northward an example
was seen by Mr. J. C. Atkinson on the Guisborough Moors,
in Cleveland, 16th August, 1863 (Zool. p. 8768). In Scotland
Mr. R. Gray mentions one killed not later than 1836,
in Caithness, and two in November, 1863, near Aberdeen.
In Ireland evidence of the occurrence of the species is
wanting.
The Ortolan is only a summer-visitor to Europe, and the
examples which have been met with in Great Britain, if
they have appeared voluntarily, which in several instances
may perhaps be doubted,* must have strayed from the
wonted course of the species which hardly takes in the west
or north of France; but considering the high northern latitude
which it attains—breeding, as it does, in Norway every year
so far as Throndjem, and occasionally according to HH.
Palmdn and Sahlberg so far as Muonioniska on the frontiers
of Sweden and Finland—one may perhaps be rather surprised
that more examples have not been recognized in this country.
Still the remarkably local distribution of the Ortolan through-
* Tbis species is every spring imported in great numbers into England for tbe
table, and it is unquestionable that some examples may occasionally get loose.
Tunstall imagined that bis bird bad escaped from a cage, wbicb was not so
likely at tbat time as a similar case would be now. Blytb mentions (Mag.
Nat. Hist. N.S. i. p. 441) tbat live Ortolans were first brought to tbe London
market in tbe spring of 1837, and tbat they came from Prussia. Of late years
those we have tbe opportunity of eating are said to come from Holland, but
possibly they have been caught in Germany and sent down tbe Rhine to Rotterdam
for exportation. As Blyth’s statement is no doubt to be trusted, specimens
obtained in or about Britain prior to 1837 may be fairly deemed free from tbe
taint tbat attaches to those suspected of being escaped prisoners.