Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/319

Rh readily distinguished from that animal by the shortness and roundness of the ears and comparative shortness of the tail. I do not know that it has been previously observed, but I see that, in swimming, Mus decumanus uses its tail, not in the manner of a man sculling a boat from the stern, but with a horizontal snake-like motion.— (Cowfold, Horsham).

— The Somersetshire Purple Gallinule seems to raise rather an interesting question—namely, what amount of evidence should be required to admit a bird confessedly killed in an apparently wild state within the British Islands to a place in our list of birds as a bonâ fide wanderer. I quite agree to one of the remarks made by Mr. Mathew in the June number of 'The Zoologist' (p. 252), that "it is well nigh impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule;" each case must be decided on its own merits. But Mr. Mathew immediately after seems to suggest, in spite of the difficulty of doing so, that we should draw a hard and fast hue line at "a Parrakeet, a Whidah Bird, or a Canary in its yellow plumage." If this is to be done, and we are to admit everything else merely on evidence of its having been found in an apparently wild state, and with no signs of having been in confinement about it, we should—in these days when the taste for keeping birds in confinement is so prevalent—have to increase the British list indefinitely. There are, besides the mere signs of captivity, many things which we ought to consider before admitting a supposed wanderer into the British list. For instance, the habitat, whether near to these islands or distant—if distant, had the bird been found at any intermediate places; how separated, by land or water, whether confined to a small spot or extending over a considerable geographical area; the habits and capabilities of the bird—whether of a wandering nature and possessed of considerable powers of flight—whether migratory, and if so, within what limits—whether, either at its breeding stations or on the journey to or fro it is likely to fall in with flocks of birds bound to these Islands with which it might associate—what the line of migration might be, whether along a coastline from which, if blown by a gale or wandering in foggy weather, it would probably reach these shores as the first land. Food also may be taken into consideration, as there are some birds which, from the nature of their food as well as from their habits, it is quite impossible to keep in confinement, and therefore they could not be brought to these Islands from any distance by the help of man; others, however, are very easily tamed and fed, consequently may easily be brought any distance with very little care and attention, and would show little or no signs of confinement on their arrival here. On the ground of food alone, there are many birds which we should be disposed at once to admit as bonâ fide wanderers, on satistactory evidence of their having been found here in an apparently wild state. Such, for instance, would be the Alpine Swift, Bonaparte's Sandpiper, and the American Little Stint. As an illustration of some of the foregoing remarks,