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Show 1879.] PROF. NEWTON ON SYLVIA NISORIA. 219 Prof. Newton, M.A., F.R.S., Vice-President, exhibited (on behalf of Mr. John Robinson, of Trinity Hall, Cambridge) a specimen of Sylvia nisoria, remarking *.- " This specimen was formerly the property of Mr. Germany, for many years the highly-respected porter of Queens' College, who in the course of a long life formed a considerable collection of birds, nearly all obtained by himself in and near Cambridge, and also stuffed by himself. At his death, more than twenty years ago, it passed, with many others of his specimens, into the possession of an old friend of his, Mr. Elijah Tarrant, of whom Mr. John Robinson, an undergraduate of Trinity Hall, bought it about a twelvemonth since. Up to this time no one seems to have known what the bird was, though some ingenious person had hazarded the suggestion that it was a variety of the Nightingale. Soon after, it was seen by Mr. Frederick Bond, F.Z.S., who at once recognized it as Sylvia nisoria, and was good enough to advise its being shown to me. It was accordingly brought to me by Mr. Doggett, a bird-stuffer at Cambridge, in wdiose hands Mr. Robinson had placed it for remounting; and I immediately made all the inquiries I could about it. It appears that it was shot by Germany, a long time before his death, in a garden at a place known as " Paradise," not far from Queens' College. Tarrant tells me that he remembers seeing it directly after it was mounted, if not before the skin was taken off, and that Germany said he had much difficulty in shooting it, owing to the thick foliage in which the bird kept, being obliged at last to fire when it was so close to him that it was greatly damaged by the shot. Any one who examines the specimen will see that its condition corroborates this last statement, as it has lost a considerable number of feathers from the head, especially near the gape, and several rectrices are wanting. But I see no reason for doubting any particular of the story as told to me. I have satisfied myself that on the part of no one has there been an attempt to make money out of it; and in further confirmation thereof I would call attention to the glass eye which has been inserted into the specimen. This has the iris of a pale yellow*, which we know to be the colour in Sylvia nisoria, but a colour so uncommon in species of the family that an English bird-stuffer would hardly have thought of using it had he not been prompted by finding an iris of this colour in the bird when fresh. I may add that the specimen, from its plumage, seems to have been a male; and, so far as Tarrant recollects, it was shot in spring or early summer; but as its death took place possibly forty years ago, he cannot be at all certain on this point." The following papers were read;- |