Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/82

1248 ) it is now in my collection. This bird came along with a flock of fieldfares, and suddenly alighted from them upon a fir-tree, where uttering a peculiar note, caused it to be shot without at all being aware of what it was. The siskin has been tolerably numerous this season. — Robert J. Bell; Mickleover House.

Domestication of Wood-pigeon. — The common wood-pigeon, or Cushat doo, (Columba palumbus) is, I believe, almost universally considered incapable of domestica- tion (Zool. 660 and 1025) ; at least hitherto so far as I am aware all reported attempts to domesticate it, have entirely failed ; thus giving ground for drawing such a conclu- sion. I am glad, however, to be able to make known through the medium of your highly interesting journal, that the domestication of this bird is not to be ranked amongst impossibilities. About eight or nine years ago while spending the summer vacation (I was then a school-boy) with some friends in a retired corner in Fifeshire, I procured a very young bird of the cushat doo. Being enamoured with the lovely crea- ture, and having then little else particularly demanding attention, I devoted the greater part of my time, from a very early hour each morning till the evening in nurs- ing my favourite, and then I truly felt "Labor ipse voluptas." The pigeon was kept in an outhouse, the door of which remained open during the whole day ; and it was thus allowed full liberty, which it often availed itself of; but always returned safely to its abode, from which by itself it never at any time wandered far. When I walked forth into the woods and fields, it was my sole companion, and it would sit with great com- posure on my shoulder or arm as I moved along ; and when offered food, it ate greedily from the hand. An end was however soon put to the career of this, to me, highly in- teresting bird ; for entering a house were cows were kept, about six weeks or two months after I had been put in possession of it, it received a kick from one of these animals which sent it reeling with a broken leg, and to conclude the tragic scene, the cow seized it with her teeth and chewed it, till almost every bone in the poor animal's body was broken. So ended the days of my poor pigeon ; but it lived long enough to show that it was really domesticated. All the circumstances are as fresh in my memory, as if they had occurred but yesterday. — George Lawson ; Hawkhill, Dundee, December, 1845.

Occurrence of the American Bittern near Fleetwood. — A beautiful specimen of the American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus, Gould) was killed about the 8th instant in the vicinity of Fleetwood, and has since been presented to the Literary and Philoso- phical Society of this borough ; the bird upon dissection proved to be a male. The following particulars may be interesting to some of your readers, as differing a little or being altogether left out in the description of the bird by Mr. Yarrell. Extent of the expanded wings 42¼ inches, from the carpal joint to the end of the longest quill 11¾ inches, total length 27¼ inches ; length of tarsi 3½ inches ; of middle toe and claw 4 inches ; from the point of the bill to the frontal feathers 3 inches ; to the angle of the mouth 4 inches. Front of the head very dark, the centre of each feather blackish- brown, margined with reddish-brown. The black space on each side of the neck below the ear 3 inches long by 1 broad ; primaries and secondaries of the wing slate- black, the first four feathers slightly tipped with brown, all of equal length and the longest in the wing; legs yellowish green ; front of the shank and upper surface of the toes olivaceous brown; sole of the foot and under-surface of the toes yellow. — James Cooper; 132, Victoria Street, Preston, December 20th, 1845.