The Wood-chat. A specimen of the wood-chat shrike (Lanius rufus), was taken in a fishing-boat at Scilly. The claims of this species to rank as a British bird, at the time Mr. Selby published the first edition of his 'Illustrations of British Ornithology' were so much doubted by him, that he refrained from giving either a figure or description of the bird, although it had been considered as British by most of our naturalists; but since the first publication of his valuable work, whatever doubts existed then, some instances have occurred of its capture in England; and I am proud in being able to report that Cornwall can afford one of the instances of the occurrence of so rare a British bird. The specimen, which I now have in my collection, is an adult male bird, equal in size to the red-backed shrike, or common butcher-bird (Lanius Collurio), which in shape and form it greatly resembles. The figures given by Bewick and Yarrell afford a correct representation of the bird.
White-winged Crossbill. The next rare bird which has come under my notice, and of which a correct figure is given in the second volume of Yarrell's 'British Birds,' is the white-winged crossbill, (Loxia leucoptera). This bird was killed a few years since at Lariggan, near this place, and was preserved in a very mutilated state as a supposed chaffinch. The two white bars in the wing no doubt caused the mistake, and it was by mere accident that I detected the specimen just in time to prevent its falling to pieces, through the united agencies of moths and mildew. This species is not, I observe, included by Selby as a British bird; and, according to Yarrell, not more than four authenticated instances of its capture in England are recorded.
With reference to these three instances of very rare British birds being found in our county, I may remark that two out of the three, namely, the white-winged crossbill and the pectoral sandpiper, are North-American species, whilst the wood- chat shrike is found in France, Germany, &c. It is therefore an interesting fact connected with the natural history of the county, and one that cannot but act as an encouragement to our resident scientific naturalists to watch with interest what the seasons may produce, that in the space between the Scilly isles and the Lizard, comprising two of the cardinal points of the kingdom, the most southerly and westerly points, these three rare birds have occurred; thus showing at least the probability of many of our birds of passage taking advantage of the nearest cardinal point in this country to alight on, if not permanently to reside in, till their migratory calls again induce them to return.
