New World Passeres which cannot reasonably be supposed
to have reached our shores without human agency need not
be mentioned.
TiAntttr major, Pallas. Pallas’s Grey Shrike. To this
species or sub-species—for it seems possible that it may interbreed
with Lanius. excnbitor-—belong the majority of . the
‘ Great Grey ’ Shrikes obtained in wintqw in the British
Islands, especially in Scotland. It appears to be a northern
or north-eastern form, distributed, from Scandinavia eastward,
over a large portion of Northern Europe and Asia,
and distinguishable, when thorough-bred, by. its white rump
and by. the absence of the white bases to the secondaries,
while the white bases of the primaries are. smaller than in
L: tixcubitor. Roughly speaking, major has only one alar
bar instead of-two. I ts : range, on migration, ,is not', yet
clearly defined.
Saxicola stapazina M M P The Black-throated
Wheatear. An adult male was-fshot pear.. Bury in Lancashire
about the middle of May, 1878, and was exhibited
at I a | meeting of thu- Zoological Society in the following
November (P. Z. S. 18783-,p,p^81 .and 977). > The- species is
common in Southern Europe and North,j Afripa, and has
straggled as far -north as Heligoland.
&,Saxicola deserti, - ( | The Besmt Wheatear.
A male; rin "autumn plumage was. killed »ear Alloa, Clackmannanshire*
on the 26th afe-Npyember, 18,80^ and, having
been sent to Mr. J. J. Balgleislp was forwarded by- bim for
exhibition before the,'Z.Oi3iftgic§,l (-P. Z. S. 1881, p.
'45.3). Tbe species inhabits the southern and easter»,..sides
of the Mediterranean ibasin, and has twice, been know» to
wanderTo Heligoland.
Acrogeehalus p^pfTRis (Bechstdn^ The Marsh Warbler;
It is impossible to, ;dpubt the authenticity of vth,e
examples obtained during . tbe last ten .yepra. Mr. Qgqil
Smith has shown /Zool. s.s. p.. . 4^13); that it' breeds »ear
Taunton, and it is now known to do so.-.,annually (Zool.
•1882,.pp. 265., 306).; it has also;nested near Bath. I have
examined .several fresh-killed birds: also their nests and
eggs ; the two latter being very different from those of the
Reed Warbler. The range of the two species is similar.
Sylvia nisoria (Bechsteiri),^ Tbe Barred Warbler. An
example shot many years ago in a garden near Queen’s
College, Cambridge, was exhibited by Professor Newton
before tbe Zoological Society Z. S. .1879, p. 219).y. . One
was killed in Yorkshire on the. 28th August, and one in
Norfolk on the 4th September, 1884 (P. Z-..S. 1884, p. 477).
Tbe species breeds over the .greater part of Europe up to the
south of Sweden, and about as far west as 6° E. long.
Tichodroma muraria | (Linnam)\ The Wall Creeper.
The occurrence, of- this remarkable -speeiesf sp conspicuous
from the band,of crimson on the wing, was made known by
Mar sham, of ^atton-Strawless Hall, Norfolk, in a letter to
Gilbert White, dated Gctob’er 30th, 1792-fZoDi.e-.fL p. 4664).
Mr. F. S. Mitchell has recorded another well-authenticated
example shot' in Lancashire on the ,8th May, 1872'f(Zool. s.s.
p. 4839); V Although an inhabitant of-the- mountainous portions
of -'Central and4. Southern Europe, Asia, and North
Africa, it is known t©< have straggled-»» several occasions -t©
such apparently unsuitable localities]’ as .the centre of the
commercial town of NanTfeeJNm the Lower Loire;,-and I have
examined several specimens obtained there.
Acanthyllis l JKher.Needle-tailed
Swift/ The jtwq occurrences of this species in England are
noticed in vol., ii.’p. 371.
CaprimulgrsT RUEtdiOiSPjs,-i ■Te'm'tmn&hJ. The Red-necked
Nightjar. For remarks-, ion th e ' occurrence ■ of this souther»
species, in Northumberland, -see. vol. ii. p. 386.
Caprimulgus iEGYPinis ( I d s The Isabelline Nightjar.
On the 23rd of Jnne|ib888‘,.' an undoubted examplg'of this
south-eastern species was shot.by the gamekeeper of-Mr. J.
Whitaker, of Rain worth Lodge, near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire,
in whose collection it now is (Zool. 1883, p. ,374).
‘Thei species is a native of North-eastern Africa and. Western
Asia; hut this makes its sixth occurrence’ in* Europe / one
of them being in Heligoland.
J2gialitis vocifera n ^Binnc&M)^. The KiUdeer* Plovei*.
vol; in. b