Great varietie of finches[48] and other small birds whereof one very small [one crossed out] calld a whinne bird marked with fine yellow spotts & lesser than a wren. there is also a small bird called a chipper somewhat resembling the former wch comes in the spring & feeds upon the first buddings of birches & other early trees.
[48] In his fifth [letter to Merrett] Browne says, "I confess for such little birds I am much unsatisfied on the names given to many by countrymen and uncertain what to give them myself." This is painfully apparent in the cases of the two little birds here referred to as the "Whinne-bird" and the "Chipper." From the description of the former, "marked with fine yellow spots and lesser than a Wren," also with a "shining yellow spot on the back of the head," it seems likely that the Gold-crested Wren is intended. The Chipper, he says, "comes in the spring and feeds upon the first buddings of birches and other early trees;" he also calls it "Betulæ carptor," and says that he sends a drawing to Merrett; a third mention is as follows: "That which I called a Betulæ carptor, and should rather have called it Alni carptor . . . it feeds upon alder buds, nucaments, or seeds, which grow plentifully here; they fly in little flocks." I can only suggest that this bird may be the Siskin, which fairly answers the description. It visits us in small flocks on its way north very early in the year, feeding upon the seeds of the alder, birch, and larch trees. One would however have thought that the Siskin would have been well known to Browne, as it evidently was to Turner, Willughby, and Ray. Merrett mentions it under Turner's name of "Luteola."
A kind of Anthus [or crossed out] Goldfinch [written above] or fooles coat com̄only calld a drawe water. finely marked with red & yellowe & a white bill. wch they take with trap cages in norwich gardens & fastning a chaine about them tyed to a box of water it makes a shift with bill and legge to draw up the water unto it from the litle pot hanging [abot the length of crossed out] by the chaine about a foote [downe crossed out] belowe.
[The account of the Roller, which is written on smaller paper, will be found improperly inserted among the Fishes, between pp. 30 and 32 as follows:—]
[Fol. 31.] On the xiiii of May 1664 a very rare bird was sent mee kild about crostwick wch seemed to bee some kind of Jay.[49] the bill was black strong and bigger then a Jayes somewhat yellowe clawes tippd black. 3 before and one clawe behind the whole bird not so bigge as a Jaye [the crossed out.]
[49] This note is interesting as the first record of the occurrence of the Roller in Britain, to which country it is a rare wanderer. Although it had long been known on the Continent, its identity seems to have puzzled Browne, and he imagines (as did others, both before and after him,) it to be some kind of Jay; later, in his second [letter to Merrett] (January, 1668), he says that it answers to the description of Garrulus argentoratensis (the name given by Aldrovandus to whom it was known), and calls it "the Parrot-jay." This is five years after the original note was made, and we find that the words Garrulus argentoratensis, written by the same hand but with a different pen and ink, have been added subsequently, doubtless as the result of further information. In another letter he mentions having sent the bird to Merrett, but adds, "If you have it before I should bee content to have it againe otherwise you may please keep it."
The head neck & throat of a violet colour the back upper parts of the wing of a russet yellowe the fore & part of the wing azure succeeded downward by a greenish blewe then on the flying feathers bright blewe the lower parts of the wing outwardly of a browne [the crossed out] inwardly of a merry blewe the belly a light faynt blewe the back toward the tayle of a purple blewe the tayle eleuen fethers of a greenish coulour the extremities of the outward fethers thereof white wth an eye[K] of greene. Garrulus Argentoratensis [the name added in a different ink and pen].
[K] Tinge, shade, particularly a slight tint.—"Imp. Dict."