Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/129

Rh The following captures of the black redstart have come to my knowledge. One was caught some years since at Lariggan, between Penzance and Newlyn, by some boys who were bird-catching in the winter; this is supposed to be a female, and is now in the collection of Mr. Rodd. A second example was shot near Marazion, in January, 1842, by Mr. Vingoe, naturalist of this town; this was a male, and is now in the Penzance Museum. A third specimen of this bird was shot also near Lariggan, in December, 1842; this was a female, and' is now in the possession of Mr. Tuke, of York. A fourth example, which proved to be a male, was shot by myself near Marazion marsh, on the 8th of February, 1843.

Besides these captures, I have information of three of these birds having been seen in different localities near this place; and I have little doubt of the correctness of my informants, as they are not likely to have confounded them with females of the common redstart (Phœnicura ruticilla), that species having never, to my knowledge, been seen so far west as Penzance, though a few are said to occur in the east of Cornwall.

Neither of the male examples killed here has any black about the neck or breast, and are therefore, I suppose, both immature: or does this bird always lose its black garb in the winter, as some here seem to suspect? Information on this point would be very acceptable, as no ornithologists, whose works I have seen, notice it, neither do they say where these birds pass the winter; it seems probable, from all the examples seen and procured here having occurred in the winter, that many at least pass that period not far from our shores.

The bird which I saw myself was flying about in the haunts of the stonechat (Saxicola rubicola), and appeared to me, in its general action, and particularly in perching on the summit of every eminence, to exhibit more of the habits of that species, than its congener the Common redstart does.—Alfred Greenwood; Penzance, February 18, 1843.

Note on the late departure of the Swallow in 1842. I have received and perused the only two numbers of 'The Zoologist' yet out: I approve the plan of the work and mean to continue it. There is ample room and even call for a work of the kind. Is it worth recording in a corner of 'The Zoologist,' that I observed a single swallow (Hirundo rustica), on the 8th of December, sporting backwards and forwards under the cliffs below Dover castle, between 2 and 3 in the afternoon? It was a cold raw day, calm and without sun; wind N.E. by N.I watched him for a good while, and looked