Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/428

402 by a "coloured" lad as being "less than a pigeon, and of a lightgreen colour about the neck;" also as making a "curious noise" in the air, and as not knowing apparently "how to get down again," finally "tumbling down like a stone." This is a fair sample of the information one may expect in Bermuda.

Eremophila alpestris, Shore Lark.—Three examples are recorded by Major Wedderburn: two at St. George's, October 25th, 1849; and one at Spanish Point, February 27th, 1850. In Mr. Bartram's collection are three specimens. I shot a fine male on the north shore, close to the old lunatic asylum, on January 29lh, 1875. It fell into the sea, in the middle of a huge mass of "gulf" weed, through which I had to swim some distance for it. Fortunately I was not observed, or I might have found myself an inmate of the adjacent building. [Two others were obtained, and brought to me in January, 1876.— H.D.]

Anthus ludovicianus, Brown Lark; Pipit.—Major Wedderburn has a specimen in his possession, shot by Mr. Fozard on November 26th, 1848. There are two others in Mr. Bartram's collection, shot by himself near St. George's.

Mniotilta varia, Black-and-While Creeper.—In October, 1849, one example of this neat little warbler (it belongs to the Sylvicolidæ, though the English name points to the Certhidæ) was shot at St. George's; and two or three more seen between that town and Hamilton. One was obtained at Ireland Island on October 27lh, 1852. Mr. J.M. Jones shot one in Devonshire Marsh, in January, 1871. I found them quite common in the autumn of 1874, and winter succeeding it, and obtained several specimens, chiefly in the tall cedars of Devonshire Swamp and around Hungry Bay. This bird was one of my especial favourites; and I used to sit for hours watching its quick and graceful motions, and its dexterity in capturing insects. Its mode of "registering" branch after branch, commencing at the bottom and ending at the outermost twigs, is very like that of our familiar European Creeper.

Parula americana, Blue Yellow-backed Warbler.—This diminutive bird seems hardly fitted for a journey of six liundred miles across the ocean. Nevertheless, four examples are on record, viz.—one shot by Canon Tristram at Ireland Island, on April 21st, 1849; one found by Mr. Hurdis in 1853, in a collection of Bermuda skins sent to him for examination; and two others seen by myself, one being shot near Devonshire Swamp on October 19th, 1874.