Barony of Castle Combe, where some of them resided and were buried. They are not mentioned by name as benefactors to this Priory, but they were so to that of Lewes, to which this was subordinate. They were landlords in chief of Comerwell, close to this place, which, in 1547,' the Prior of Farley held under the Barry of Castle Combe. As they were supporters, like the Bohuns, of the Empress Maud, it is not unlikely that they may have been contr butors to the establishment of the monks here. Mr. Poulett Scrope considers this effigy to represent some young man of the Dunstarville family, who died in his father's lifetime, and of whom, cons quently, there is no record remaining. There are also fragment: of a second figure in chain armour, beautifully sculptured, and one coloured, but there are no arms, or other token by which it may b identified. Another stone has an incised cross very perfect. No conventual seal of this Priory has been met with; nor is ever any impression of it attached to any document known to exist. But a small round silver seal (now in Mrs. Wade Browne's posses sion) was found in 1841 on the spot, bearing a well-engraved he and legend of St. Mary Magdalene, to whom the House was dedcated. It was probably a private one of the Prior; but is not larg enough for the more important instrument generally used in the name of Prior and Convent.3 The spring which supplied the Convent is sheltered by a litt stone building, with very pointed stone roof, called "The Monk's Conduit," about a quarter of a mile north-west of the house. I' resembles one on Bowden Hill, built with the like purpose f Lacock Abbey. 1 History of Castle Combe, p. 317. 2 Ditto p. 39. J. E. J. 285 On the Ornithology of Wilts. No. 8.-INSESSORES (Perchers). HE second great order of birds, the "Perchers," contains so many species, that in order to avoid confusion (as I have before shown, Vol. i. p. 112), it was found necessary to sub-divide it generally into tribes, before descending to investigate the families which compose it: and perhaps we shall be prepared to examine these several families and their component species with the greater assiduity and accuracy, when we consider that it embraces not only those vast flocks of the finch and sparrow tribe, which throng our yards in the winter, and those great colonies of the rook and crow tribe which surround our homesteads, but also all the warblers and small birds which fill our gardens, woods, and fields in the summer, whose active forms delight our eye, and whose varied notes charm our ear so continually in short, so extensive numerically as well as specifically is this order, that I suppose I shall be within bounds when I say that almost all the birds (perhaps not less than 99 out of every 100,) that usually come under our notice in this inland county, belong to the Perchers. The first tribe of this order is that of the tooth-billed, or notch-billed, (Dentirostres,) and includes the principal insect-eating families of the order: foremost of which stand LANIADE (the Butcher birds). I have before remarked (Vol. i. p. 110,) what a connecting link the butcher birds, or shrikes, form with the last mentioned family, the owls; and indeed, these may well be termed diminutive birds. of prey, or Falcons of the insect world, so fierce and savage is their disposition, so cruel and blood-thirsty their habits, though at the same time their slender limbs and feet prove them to be true Perchers: they also merit the foremost place in the tribe Dentirostres, from the very marked and distinct tooth near the point of the upper mandible, rendering the beak a very powerful instrument for the destruction of small creatures: but in truth they partake both of the habits of the preceding raptorial families, and also of the next family, the flycatchers; for on the one hand, in addition to their savage sanguinary disposition, they reproduce castings formed of the elytra and other hard parts of coleoptera: on the other hand, like the flycatchers, they often sit watching on the bare branch of a tree, or on a post or railing, whence their vision can extend over a considerable range, and whence they can dart after any passing insect or small quadruped or bird: they will often hover too in the air above the branch on which they are about to alight; and when sitting watchfully on a bough they will frequently jerk the tail; in both which last mentioned habits again they much resemble the flycatchers, to which they are considerably allied. They prey on mice, small birds, grasshoppers, beetles, and other coleopterous insects; and these they will impale, (as soon as caught) on some thorn or pointed stake, which they thus convert into a temporary larder: for this strange and cruel custom no very satisfactory reason has been given; though some have attributed it to the greater facility it presents for tearing in pieces their prey, and this seems not improbable when we contrast their slight limbs and feeble feet with the strong legs and sharp claws of the hawk tribe, so conducive to this purpose: others again assert that the insects so placed on the point of a thorn are intended as baits to attract other victims, and this is the opinion entertained generally, perhaps not without reason, by the American naturalists, (who have better opportunities of studying their habits,) for it is notorious that the shrikes will often kill and impale, apparently from sheer wantonness, destroying many more victims than they can consume, and leaving them transfixed on some thorny bush; they are extremely bold and strong, and will often attack birds as large as themselves; they are also very fierce, and when wounded, will bite almost as severely as a hawk: they are the terror of all small birds, for whose nestlings they are ever on the watch, and these will sometimes band together to mob and drive them away, as they do the owl on occasions. The name they |