ee ONES. “ete ae hed sone Se Se eh nb SS ee Fake Oe emit en eh ata tt 2 debe RAT Me Carne hata Get | a Hho Roy vm tt oo tate Gate Aaah eS * acto MBO ate Oe ONE 4bnivat- Re tn cnn Ott’ pot keh ie ett ee OP OD EO OO 0. Rett OA hl OO AO pn Pgh th hn Oe a 2 ret ante nt Laiy Oe Te tpt Mae Ma ao ahh he NN ES SN Some BAT DAY OS ADP IO a ~- AAD RY AeA tna (en tta o on eA Beeb DAES, —— Tee ZOOLOGIS@T- A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. FOURTH SHERIES.—VOL. VII. EDITED BY W.o> Lo oDISTANT. LONDON: WEST, NEWMAN, & CO., 54, HATTON GARDEN, SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., Lrp. 1903. ——- re ] | | PUBLISHERS ° § if PREFACE. In writing a Preface for the Sixty-first Volume of ‘THE Zoouoaist’ the question arises as to the work achieved by these long successive yearly publications, and it is probable that it is to the philosophical conclusions of Zoology that the greatest contribution has been made. We are not alluding to any of the directly philosophical papers that have from time to time appeared, but are referring to the bionomical observations with which our contributors have enriched these pages. They directly appertain to the important problem of the status of intelligence possessed by other animals than ourselves, and we think we may challenge the existence of any other commen- surate series of volumes, in any language, and over an equal length of time, that record such a number of facts on this subject. It is more than probable that many writers of these notes have scarcely realized their philosophical importance. Animal psychology is still in its infancy, and, like meteorology, must depend largely for its progress on available observations. Mr. Mallock has recently drawn attention to a contemporary volume, emanating from Stonyhurst, on Psychology, in which the writer, Father Maher, S.J., tes :— ‘‘ Careful reflection must convince us, that no matte®what pains and industry be devoted to the observation of the animals, our assurance with regard to their subjective states can never be more than a remote conjectural opinion.” _ We believe that this statement is largely fallacious, and that the pages of ‘Tue Zootoatst’ have already demonstrated, 1V PREFACE. and will still go to prove, that the status of intelligence and the | mental concepts in animal life are not a forlorn quest, but are subjects which future naturalists will be enabled to compre- hend—and to a no inconsiderable extent—from the bionomical observations they will inherit from present workers. With such reflections, the contributors to ‘ THE ZooLoaist’ may rest assured that their contributions will ultimately be recognized as something beyond detailing the curiosities of animal existence, and the present tale of sixty-one volumes may largely influence the future study of an adequate Animal Psychology. CONTENTS. ed ALPHABETICAL LIST Aptin, O. V., F.L.8., M.B.O.U. Notes on the Ornithology of Ox- fordshire (1899-1901), 5,59; Mi- eration of Jays, 28; The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 152, 190; The Rock-Dove in Somer- set, 153, 317; Additional notes on the Birds of Lleyn, 201; Breeding habits of the Pied Woodpecker, 314; Tufted Duck in Merionethshire, 316; Birds mentioned by Aristotle, 319; Natterer’s Bat in Oxfordshire, 349; The Hobby in South War- wickshire, 351; Notes on Oxford- shire Ornithology, by the late Charles EK. Stubbs, of Henley-on- Thames, edited by O. V. Apnin, 444 ARNOLD, E. C. Bluethroat near Eastbourne, 389 AUSTEN, E. B. Larve attacking Toad, 75 Batston, R. J. Scolopax rusticula breeding in Kent, 193 Bankes, ARTHUR Hen-Harriers in Dorset, 152; The status of the Goldfinchin Britain, 190 BANNERMAN, D. A. Late appearance of House- Martins at Eastbourne, 455; White-tailed Eagle at Leadenhall Market, 458 BaRrett-HAmitton, G. H. H. On the position occupied by the legs of birds during flight, 139 Bewson, Rey. Cuarues W., LL.D. White Wagtail at Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, 389 Brrp, Rev. Maurice C. H. Protective colouration of bird’s eggs, 73; Cuckoo calling in July, 433 OF CONTRIBUTORS. Buatuwayt, Rev. F. L. A habit of the Lesser Redpoll, 26; Notes from Lincolnshire, 29, 436; Harly nesting of the Shag, 192 Bonuote, J. L., M.A., F.Z.S. The status of the Goldfinch in Bri- tain, 105; Variability in colour in Duck’s bill, 107; A British ex- ample ofthe Mouse-coloured Bat, 387 Brown, J. A. Harvis-, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S. The status of the Goldfinch in Bri- tain, 23; List of English-killed Ospreys wanted, 234; British Grey Geese, 315; Breeding of Lesser Black-Backed and Her- ing Gulls, 352; Can and do birds reason ? do men also ? 396 Butter, Lieut.-Col. HK. A. Goldfinch in South Africa, 227; Mus sylvaticus wintoni in Suf- folk, 811; Nesting of the Pied Wagtail, 813; Nesting of the Grey Crow in Suffolk, 350 BUTTERFIELD, EH. P. A habit of the Lesser Redpoll, 72 BUTTERFIELD, Rosse The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 70 BUTTERFIELD, W. RuskIN The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 71; Black-winged Pra- tincole in Sussex, 392 ButTuRLIN, SERGIUS A. The bill of Anser rubrirostris, 233 CAMBRIDGE, FREDK. PiIcKARD-, F.Z.S. The Giant Goby, 429 CaMBRIDGE, Rey. O. PicKarD- Black Redstart at Bloxworth, Dor- set, 454 cy . CAMPBELL, J. McNavGui Goat suckling a lamb, 311 ; a \ vl CONTENTS. CLARKE, W. G. Thetford Warren, 100; Sooty Tern in Suffolk, 393 CLARKE, W. J. Albino Hedgehog in Yorkshire, 387; Rare Cetaceans on the Yorkshire coast, 387; Sabine’s Gull near Scarborough, 394 Cozurn, F. On the specific validity of Anser rubrirostris, and its position as a British bird, 46; Anser rubriros- tris,—Dr. Radde’s evidence, 273 Cocks, ALFRED HENEAGE WINGS DORIS WANS Less WIE O10) Blind Rats and Mice, 480; On the gestation of the Badger, 441 Couns, J., Jun. Fire-crested Wren in Lancashire, 455 Corsin, G. B. Abundance of Swifts in South Hants, 266; Note on the Kes- trel, 267; Note on Shoveler, &c.. in Valley of Avon, Hampshire, 274; Sea-birds inland, 277 CoTtNry, JOHN Wigeon breeding in Ireland, a cor- rection, 391 Cowarp, T. A. Bird notes from Cheshire during the winter of 1902-1903, 170 CummMInGs, 8S. G. The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 104; A habit of the Lesser Redpoll, 105; Purple Sandpiper in Anglesey, 154; Dotterel in Cheshire, 230; Cirl- Bunting in Flintshire, 350 DALGLIESH, GORDON Notes and observations on the mammals collected and observed in the Darbhanga District, Tir- hoot, Bengal, 94; Notes on the | Stoat and Weasel, 189; Orni- | thological notes from Guernsey, 931,277; Natterer’s Bat in Sur- rey, 349; Bird-life on an Indian Marsh, 426 Distant, W. L. Goldfinch in South Africa, 228, 432; Birds and the resonance of war, 276; Reason and instinct, 396 Drxon, R. M. The ecdyses of Snakes, as observed in British India, 336 Dompratn, H. A. A. Notes from Lincolnshire, 436 Dovusumpay, G. A. Hairless specimen of the Common Rat, 454 D’Ursan, W. G. M. i The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 105; Birds killed by Ticks, 198; Do wild birds die instantly ? 108 ELuLiott, J. STEELE Purple Heron in Hertfordshire, 107; Natterer’s Bat in Bedford- shire, 349; Nesting habits of Long-tailed Tit, 350 Hiiiison, Rev. ALLAN Note on the Sedge-Warbler, 189; The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 191; Birds killed by Ticks, 194 Ems, KE. F. M. Bird notes in Sark (1903), 260, 305, 352; Early notes in Oxfordshire, in the neighbourhood of Witney (1903), 463 Fiemyne, Rev. WinuiAm W., M.A. Involuntary capture of a Swallow, 227; Siskin breeding in Co. Wicklow, 456; Cuckoo’s note uttered while flying, 457 Forrest, H. EH. The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 71; Stone-Curlew in Merioneth, 154; The birds of N.W. Wales and the opposite counties of Ireland, 176; Dart- ford Warbler in Shropshire, 349 Fow er, W. Warps, M.A. An unknown Warbler in Oxford- shire, 848; Cuckoo calling in September in Italy, 390 Fox, W. SToRRS Rough-legged Buzzard and Mon- tagu’s Harrier in Derbyshire, 268 Frouawk, F. W. British Bean-Geese, 41 GODFREY, ROBERT Blackbird laying on the ground, 70 GouaH, P. Strange behaviour of Peregrines in Ireland, 433 GRAVES, FRANK 8. Grasshopper- Warbler in the Isle of Man, 313; Tree-Sparrow in the Isle of Man, 318; Stock-Dove in the Isle of Man, 316; Water- Rail in the Isle of Man, 317 CONTENTS. Gurney, J. H., F.L.S., F.Z.S. Ornithological notes from Norfolk for 1902, with references to some occurrences in other counties, 121 GYNGELL, W. The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 105; Nesting habits of the Lesser Redpoll, 106; The early morning and late evening singing of some British birds, 334 Hareu, G. H. Caton Migration of birds in N.E. Lincoln- shire during the autumn of 1902, 361 HEPBURN, THOMAS The birds of Dungeness, 214 Horton, B. J. Notes on the Pine-Snake in con- finement, 30; Larve attacking Toad, 74 Howapb, H. H., F.Z.S. On sexual selection and the esthe- tic sense in birds, 407 HowteEtt, W. F. Note on water-mites, 355 JOURDAIN, Rey. Francis C. R., M.A., M.B.O.U. The Lesser Shrew and Bank-Vole in Suffolk, 69; The Harp Seal in Great Britain, 312; On the northern breeding range of the Dartford Warbler, 423 KELSALL, J. E. The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 71 Ketso, J. KH. H. Birds killed by Ticks, 155; Nesting of the Ringed Plover, 195 Kirpy, W. F., F.L.S., &c. Description of a new species of Mantide, 304 LEwWIs, STANLEY The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 104; The Rock-Dove inland in Somerset, 108, 230; Nightingale’s late arrival in Som- erset, 226 Litter, Frank M., M.A.O.U. Can and do birds reason ? 328 Lones, T. B., M.A., LL.D., B.Se. On the identification of some of the birds mentioned by Aristotle, 241 LONNBERG, E1nar, C.M.Z.S., &e. On the variation of the Bean-Goose, vil 164; On the names of the two species of Skua with pointed tail- feathers, 338 LyprEkkKeEr, R., B.A., F.R.S. The use of the Giraffe’s bilobed canine, 225; The Burmese Gaur, or Pyoung, 264 Mackenziz, DaLziIeL W. The birds of Thetford Warren, 156 Matty, C. W. Notes on the habits of a South African species of Rhynchota (Henicocephalus sp.), 466 M‘Lacuuan, R., F.R.S. A second brood of Starlings, 390 Meyrick, Lieut.-Col. H. Nesting of the Lesser Redpoll in Somerset, 457 Mitts, Rev. H. Hotroyp Breeding of the Lesser Black-back- ed and Herring-Gulls, 317 Monk, J. LEONARD Remarks on some African Chame- leons, 321 Mortey, J. Large flight of Rough-legged Buz- zards near Scarborough, 433 Morris, ROBERT Migration of Jays, 27 Netson, T. H. British examples of the White- spotted Bluethroat, 23; Stock- - Dove in the Isle of Man, 391 Nicouyi, Micuaru J. British examples of the White- spotted Bluethroat, 431; Tawny Pipit and Great Reed- Warbler in Sussex, 431, 432 Nosit, HEATLEY The birds and other animals of Thetford Warren, 155 OLDHAM, CHARLES Pintail inland in Cheshire, 229, 274; Honey-Buzzard in Che- shire, 815; Little Stint inland in Cheshire, 392; Black Tern in Cheshire, 393; Lesser Horse- shoe Bat in Carnarvonshire, 430 ; Red-breasted Merganser in Che- shire, 459 PatTEN, CHARLES J. Carrion Crow in the Irish Channel, 192 PatrEeRson, ARTHUR The Mollusea of the Great Yar- mouth district, 182; Megrim and other Fishes at Yarmouth, 354 b2 Vill PAYNE, J. W.- Late occurrence of Swift and Cuc- koo in Scotland, 550 PEARSON, CHARLES FE. The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 71 PENTLAND, G. H. Strange nesting-place for a Mistle- toe-Thrush, 312 Popmorg, P. St. M., F.R.G.S., M.A. (Cantab.) The hybridization of Columba pa- lumbus, 401 RAaEBURN, HARoLD Early nesting of the Shag, 153 Rare, P. 8. Status of Goldfinch in Britain, 71; White Wagtailin Isle of Man, 266; Black Tern in Isle of Man, 460 RamssoruaM, R. H. ‘“* An unknown Warbler in Oxford- shire,’ 389 Rawns.ey, W. F. Parrot building in the open, at Park Hill, New Forest, 1 ReaD, Ropert H. Blackbird laying on the ground, 23; Lesser Redpoll nesting in Middlesex, 26; Fork-tailed Pe- trel in Somerset, 29 Rensuaw, GRAHAM, M.B. The Black Emeu, 81; The Am- sterdam aquarium, 382 RIVIERE, BERNARD B. Arrival of the House-Martin, 152 Ropinson, H. W. British Grey Geese, 268 Ropes, G. T. Mammals, Reptiles, and Amphi- bians of Suffolk, 31; Redshank carrying her young, 275 SALTER, Prof. J. H. The Dormouse in Cardiganshire, 104; The Lesser Redpoll in Car- diganshire, 106; Lesser White- throat in Cardiganshire, 226; A vanishing British bird, 228, 278 SaxsBy, T. EDMONDSTON Ornithological notes from Shet- land, 157, 461; Variation in the Guillemot, 230 SELoUS, EDMUND Field notes (being a naturalist’s diary of observation and reflec- tion), 281, 371 SrerRvIcE, ROBERT Nesting-sites of Blackbird and CONTENTS. Song-Thrush, 69; Hybrids be- tween Domestic Pigeon (male) x Columba cenas (female), 73 SHELFORD, R., M.A., C.M.Z.S. A curious protective device in a Lepidopterous larva, 161; Bio- nomical notes on some Bornean Mantidez, 293 Surpiey, A. E., M.A. Applied Zoology, 467 SovEr, D. tz, Dir. Zool. Gard. Mel- bourne. Goldfinch in Australia and Tas- mania, 191; The Australian Kmeu, 461 SouUTHWELL, THomas, F.Z.S. Occurrence of Box vulgaris on the Norfolk coast, 31; Notes on the Seal and Whale Fishery of 1902, 53; The occurrence of Mus syl- vaticus wintoni, Barr.-Ham., at Tostock, Suffolk, 150; Albino Moorhens, 355 STEAD, Davin G. Zoological Notes from Sydney, 234 Stupps, CHares E. (the late) Notes on Oxfordshire Ornithology, edited by O. V. Aptin, 444 Swainson, E. A. Status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 104; A spotless Curlew’s egg, 352 SwinHok, Ropway C. J. Further notes on chipped flint at Yenangyoung, Upper Burma, 254 TickHurst, N. F., M.A., M.B.O.U. Some notes of rare birds from Kent and Sussex, 418 Tuck, Rev. Jutian G., M.A. Variety in Domestic Geese, 28; Wood-Lark in West Suffolk, 72; Variety of the Hawfinch, 104; White-tailed Eagle in Suffolk, 107; Great Grey Shrike in West Suffolk, 151; Mus sylvaticus wintoni in Suffolk, 266; Variation in the Guillemot, 275; Natter- jack Toad in Suffolk, 278; Sa- bine’s Gull in Yorkshire, 353, 394, 436 ; Notes from Bridlington, Yorkshire, 353; Nesting of the Grey Crow in Suffolk, 390; Sea- bird slaughter, 354, 395; An October Cuckoo, 433; British examples of the White-spotted Bluethroat, 455 WARREN, ROBERT Protection of Red-throated Diver ¢g CONTENTS. 1X at its Irish breeding-place, 154; White Wagtail visiting Bar- tragh Island, Killala Bay, 190, 226; Variation of Guillemot, 194 Watt, Huex Boyp Cuckoo in Scotland, calling in July, 391 WESTELL, W. PERcIVAL The status of the Goldfinch in Britain, 105; Ring-Ouzel near London, 454; Verlusia rhombea in Lincolnshire, 466 WHITAKER, J. Wild Swans at Rainworth, 28; Great Crested Grebe on Mans- field Reservoir, 231; Strange nesting-place for a Mistletoe- Thrush, 226; Osprey, Rough- legged Buzzard, Hen-Harrier, and Honey-Buzzard in Notts, 459; Gulls feeding, 461 Wiuuiams & Son Great Bustard in Ireland, 153; Snow-Goose in Ireland, 459; Little Crake in Co. Kildare, 460 WItson, W. Notes from Aberdeen for January and February, 108; for August, 353 Workman, W. H., M.B.O.U. Birds and sound of firearms, 318 Waricut, W. C. Ornithological notes from Co. Done- gal, 89; Ravens nesting in Co. Antrim, 191; Waxwings in Co. Antrim, 456 New species and races of animals described in this volume :— MAMMALIA. Bos gaurus readet, Lydekk. Page 264. INSECTA. Deroplatys shelfordi, Kirby Page 304. CONTENTS. ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SUBJECTS. Aberdeen, notes from, 108, 3538 Accentor modularis, 268, 3864, 465 Accipiter nisus, 367 Acipenser sturio, 885 Acredula caudata, 350 Acrocephalus aquaticus, 418; phrag- mitis, 189; sp.? 864; streperus, 465; turdoides, 482 Adgialitis cantiana, 216-219, 277; hia- ticula, 198, 219 Africa, South, Goldfinch in, 227, 432; East, some Chameleons of, 321 Alauda arborea, 72, 448; arvensis, 306, 366, 466 Albino Greenfinch, 21; Hedgehog, 387; Moorhens, 351 Alea impennis, 486; torda, 157, 278, 309 Alcedo ispida, 252, 566, 428 Amblystoma tigrinum, 385 Ampelis garrulus, 448, 456 Amphibians of Suffolk, 31 Amsterdam Aquarium (Plate VLI.), 382 Anabas scandens, 884 Anas boscas, 275, 318, 867; strepera, 275 Anodonta cygnea, 187 Anser albifrons, 270, 452; arvensis, 165,—and segetum, difference’ be- tween, 44, 46, 165; brachyrhyn- chus, 169, 269, 367; cinereus, 46; fabalis, 164; ferus, 452; indicus, 427 ; rubrirostris, as a British bird, 46, 233, 273; segetum, 164, 270, 452 Anthus pratensis, 465 Ardeola grayi, 428 Arion ater, 188 Aristotle, birds mentioned by, 241, 316, 318, 898 Arnoglossus laterna, 354 Arvicola agrestis, 311; glareolus, 69 Asio accipitrinus, 866, 446; otus, 282, 446 Astur palumbarius, 446 Auk, Great? ?, 486 Australia, ‘‘ Flying Fox,”’ 284; zoolo- gical notes from Sydney, 234; in- troduced animals flourish, 191, 234; Emeu, 461 Australia and Tasmania, catalogue of nests and eggs of birds found breeding in, 80 Avifauna of Outer Hebrides, 115 Badger, gestation of, 441 Baleeniceps rex, 159 Bat, Lesser Horseshoe, in Carnar- vonshire, 4830; Mouse-coloured, a British example of, 387; Natterer’s, in Bedfordshire, 349,—in Oxford- shire, 349,—in Surrey, 349 Beluga or White Whale at Scar- borough, 3887 Bempton Cliffs, birds of, 37 Bengal, mammals of, collected and observed in Darbhanga District, Tirhoot, 94 Bernicla brenta, 452; leucopsis, 452 Bird, a vanishing British, 228; notes in Sark, 260, 8305,—from Shetland, 157, 469; life on an Indian marsh, 426 Birds of Bempton Cliffs, 37; Wild, do they die instantly ? 79, 108; found breeding in Australia and Tasmania, catalogue of nests and eggs of, 80; of Thetford Warren, 100,155; killed by Ticks, 108, 155, 194; large, ring for, fig., 186; posi- tion of legs during flight, 139; of N.W. Wales and the opposite counties of Ireland, 176; of Lleyn, 201; of Dungeness, 214; spring rivalry of, 238; mentioned by Aris- totle, 241, 316, 318, 398; sea, in- land, 277,—slaughter of, 854, 395; can and do they reason? 328, 396 ; and sound of firearms, 276, 318; some British, singing of, 834; mi- gration of, 27, 123,—in N.H. Lin- colnshire, 861; sexual selection and zsthetic sense in, 407; rare, from Kent and Sussex, 418 Birds’ eggs, protective coloration of, 73; legs during flight, 139 Bison europeus, 200 Bittern, 209 Blackbird, nesting-sites of, 69; and Song-Thrush, hybrid between, 12; laying on the ground, 23, 70 Blackeap, 177, 207 CONTENTS. Xl Bluethroat near Eastbourne, 389; White-spotted, British examples, 23, 431, 455 Bolborhynchus monachus, 4 Booxs Noricep :— Index Animalium ; sive index nom- inum que ab A.D. mdcelviii. gene- ribus et speciebus animalium im- posita sunt, &e., A. Carolo Davies Sherborn, confectus, 32 A Naturalist in Indian Seas, or Four years with the Royal In- dian Marine Survey-ship, ‘ In- vestigator,’ by A. Alcock, 33 Catalogue of the Library of the Zoological Society of London, 34 Index Zoologicus: an Alphabetical List of Names of Genera and Subgenera proposed for use in Zoology as recorded in the ‘ Zoo- logical Record,’ 1880-1900, to- gether with other names not included in the ‘ Nomenclator Zoologicus’ of S. H. Scudder, compiled by C. O. Waterhouse, and edited by D. Sharp, 35 Monographie des Cynipides d’Eu- rope et d’Algérie, par l’Abbé J.-J. Kieffer, 35 Monographie des Mutillides d’Eu- rope et d’Algérie, par Ernest André, 35 The Tanganyika Problem, an Ac- count of the Researches under- taken concerning the Existence of Marine Animals in Central Africa, by J. E. S. Moore, 76 In the Andamans and Nicobars— the Narration of a Cruise in the schooner ‘Terrapin,’ with No- tices of the Islands, their Fauna, Hthnology, &c., by C. Boden Kloss, 110 Text-Book of Paleontology, by Karl A. von Zittel, translated and ed- ited by Charles R. Eastman, 111 Zoological Wall-Tables, drawn and edited by Paul Pfurtscheller, 112 The Birds of North and Middle America, Part II., Fam. Tana- gridx, Icteride, Cerebide, and Mniotiltide, by Robert Ridgway, 195 Variations in Animals and Plants, by H. M. Vernon, 196 Catalogue of the Collection of Pa- lzarctic Butterflies formed by the late John Henry Leech, and pre- sented to the Trustees of the British Museum by his Mother, Mrs. Eliza Leech, by Richard South, 197 Country Rambles, being a Field Naturalist’s and Country Lover’s Note-Book fora Year, by W. Per- cival Westell, 287 Nature Studies in Australia, by W. Gillies and Robert Hall, 279 The Fauna of British India, in- cluding Ceylon and Burma, ed- ited by W. T. Blanford, Hymen- optera, vol. ii. (Ants and Cuckoo- Wasps), by Lieut.-Col. C. T. Bingham, 280 The Big Game Fishes ofthe United States, by Chas. Frederick Hol- der, 319 A Naturalist’s Calendar kept at Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambridge- shire, 320 The Birds of Tennyson, by Wat- kin Watkins, 356 The Norfolk Broads, by William A. Dutt and other Contributors, 357 Fasciculi Malayenses—Anthropo- logical and Zoological Results of an Expedition to Perak and the Siamese Malay States, under- taken by Nelson Annandale and Herbert C. Robinson—(Anthro- pology, Part I.), 859 The Butterflies and Moths of Eu- rope, by W. F. Kirby, 359 Turner on Birds, a Short and Suc- cinct History of the Principal Birds noticed by Pliny and Aris- totle, first published by Doctor William Turner, 1544, edited, &e., by A. H. Evans, 398 A Monograph of the Tsetse-Flies (Genus Glossina, Westw.), based on the Collection in the British Museum, by Ernest Edward Austen, witha Chapter on Mouth- parts, by H. J. Hansen, 400 A Treatise on Zoology, edited by EK. Ray Lankester, Part. I., In- troduction and Protozoa, 437 A Manual of Palearctic Birds, by H. E. Dresser, 438 Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific between 1896 and 1899, Vol. I., Vanua Levu, Fiji—a de- scription of its leading Physical and Geological Characters, by H. B. Guppy, 439 Pictures of Bird Life on Woodland, Meadow, Mountain, and Marsh, by R. B. Lodge, 468 The Vertebrate Fauna of “ Dee,” by George Sim, 469 Animal Studies: a Text-book of Elementary Zoology for use in High Schools and Colleges, by David Starr Jordan, Vernon L. Kellogg, and Harold Heath, 470 Birds’ Eggs of the British Isles. Collated by A. G. Butler. Tlus- trated by F. W. Frohawk, 471 On the Birds of Fernando Po, by Boyd Alexander, 471 Edmonston’s Flora of Shetland, edited and revised by C. F. Argyll Saxby, 471 Bornean Mantide, bionomical notes on some, 299 Bos (Bibos) gaurus, 99, 264 Boselaphus tragocamelus, 99 Botaurus stellaris, 29, 275, 867, 428 Box vulgaris on Norfolk coast, 31 Breeding of Red-necked Phalarope in Ireland, 116; of Woodcock in Kent, 198; of Wigeon in Ireland—a cor- rection, 391; habits of Lesser Black- backed and Herring-Gulls, 308, 3852,—of Pied Woodpecker, 352 ; range, northern, of Dartford War- bler, 423; of Siskin in Co. Wick- low, 456 Bridlington, Yorkshire, notes from,353 British Association at Belfast, 40 Buccinum undatum, 187 Bufo vulgaris, 74 Bullfinch, 210; in Australia, 236 Bulweria bulweri, 420 Bunting, Cirl, in Flintshire, 179, 350 ; Snow, 208 Burma, Upper, chipped flints at Yenangyoung, 254 Bustard, Great, in Ireland, 153 pute lagopus, 268, 433, 446; vulgaris, Buzzard, Common, 180; Honey, in Cheshire, 315,— in Notts, 459 ; Rough-legged, 180,—in Derby- shire, 268, — near Scarborough, 433,—in Notts, 459 Bythinia tentaculata, 187 Caccabis rufa, 449 Calidris arenaria, 369 Callichthys asper, 384; punctatus, 384 CONTENTS. Canus aureus, 95; pallipes, 95 Carassius auratus var. japonicus, 384 Cardium edule, 184; exiguum, 184 Carduelis elegans, 23, 70, 104, 152,190, 191, 227, 236, 482, 465; spinus, 3865 Cathartes aura, 109 Cerithium reticulatum, 186 Cerivoula picta, 97 Cervus axis, 99 Ceryle varia, 428 Cetaceans, rare, on Yorkshire coast, 387 Chameleons, East African (Plate V.), 821; list of, 3827 Chameleontide, 321 Charadrius pluvialis, 806, 368, 450 Chaulelasmus streperus, 426 Check-list, A.O. U., 79 Chelidon urbica, 15%, 224, 805, 455, 461, 468, 465 Chen hyperboreus, 459 Cheshire, bird notes from, 170 Chiton cinereus, 186 Chordodes Shipleyi, 300 Chough, 179 Chrysomitris spinus, 456 Circus cineraceus, 268, 421; cyaneus, 152, 867, 420, 446 Clangula glaucion, 275 Clausilia rugosa, 188 Clupea harengus, 383 Coccothraustes vulgaris, 104, 448 Colobus, Cynopithecus, and Nasalis, cerebral convolution in, 79 Coloration, protective, of birds’ eggs, 73 Coluber melanoleucus, 380 Columba cenas, 316, 391; 449 ; livia, 91, 108, 153, 230, 317, 449; palum- bus, 238, 368, 401, 461 Colymbus arcticus, 30, 277; glacialis, 233; septentrionalis, 91, 154, 233, 453, 462 ‘Concilium Bibliographicum,’ 116 Coracias garrulus, 449 Corbula gibba, 185 Coreidz, 301 Corvus corax, 191, 804; cornix, 350, 366, 449; corone, 192, 282, 366; frugilegus, 232, 366, 465; monedula, 224, 366, 465 Cotile riparia, 224, 449 Cottus scorpinus, 384 Coturnix communis, 449, 466 County REcoRDs :— Bedfordshire—Natterer’s Bat, 349 Cambridgeshire— Mouse-coloured Bat, 387 CONTENTS. Cheshire — Lesser Redpoll, 105 ; Notes, 170; Pintail, 229, 274; Dotterel, 230; Honey-Buzzard, 315; Little Stint, 892; Black Tern, 398; Red-breasted Mer- ganser, 459 Cornwall — Lesser Black-backed and Herring-Gulls, 317; Giant Goby, 429 Derbyshire — Rough-legged Buz- zard, 268; Montagu’s Harrier, 268 Devonshire—Birds killed by Ticks, 108; Harp-Seal, 312 Dorsetshire — Hen Harrier, 152 ; Black Redstart, 454 Hssex—Hairless Rat, 454; Ring- Ouzel, 454 Hampshire—Parrot building in the open, 1; Ringed Plover, 193; Swift, 266; Kestrel, 267; Sho- veler, &., 274; Sea-birds inland, 278 Hertfordshire—Purple Heron, 107; Birds killed by Ticks, 194; Sedge- Warbler, 189 Kent—-Woodcock, 193; Birds of Dungeness, 214; Starlings, 390; Rare birds, 418 Lancashire—Fire-crested Regulus, 455 Lincolnshire—Notes. 29, 436; Mi- gration of birds, 361; Verlusia rhombea, 466 Middlesex—Blackbird, 23; Lesser Redpoll, 26 Norfolk—Box vulgaris, 31; Thet- ford Warren, 100, 155; Notes, 121; House-Martin, 152; Mol- lusea, 182; Moorhen, 351; Me- grim, &c., 354; Cuckoo, 433 Northamptonshire — Pied Wood- pecker, 314 Nottinghamshire — Wild Swans, 28 ; Mistletoe-Thrush, 226; Great Crested Grebe, 231; Osprey, 459; Rough-legged and Honey-Buz- zards, 459; Hen-Harrier, 459 Oxfordshire — Notes, 5, 59, 444, 463; Lesser Redpoll, 26; Jay, 28; Landrail, 65; An unknown Warbler, 343, 389; Natterer’s Bat, 349; Badger, 441 Shropshire—Dartford Warbler, 350 Somersetshire—F ork-tailed Petrel, 29; Rock-Dove, 108, 153, 280, 317; Nightingale, 226; Lesser Redpoll, 457 X1il Suffolk — Domestic Geese, 28 ; mammals, reptiles, and amphi- bians, 81; Lesser Shrew and Bank-Vole, 69; Wood-Lark, 72; Hawfinech, 104; White-tailed Eagle, 107; Mus sylvaticus, 311; wintoni, 150, 266; Great Grey Shrike, 151; Redshank, 275 ; Natterjack Toad, 278; Pied Wag- tail, 813; Grey Crow, 350, 390 ; Sooty Tern, 393; Cuckoo, 453 Surrey—Natterer’s Bat, 349 Sussex—Jay, 27; Bluethroat, 389 ; Black-winged Pratincole, 392; Rare birds, 418; Tawny Pipit, 431; Martin, 455 Warwickshire — Pine-Snake, 30 ; Larve attacking Toad, 74; Hob- by, 351 Yorkshire — White-spotted Blue- throat, 23, 431, 455 ; Lesser Red- poll, 72, 106; Singing of some British birds, 334; Sabine’s Gull, 358, 394, 437; Notes, 353 ; Albino Hedgehog, 387; Rare Cetaceans, 387; Sea-bird slaughter, 395 ; Buzzard, 433; Birds of Bempton Cliffs, 37 Crake, Little, in Co. Kildare, 460 Creeper, Tree, 210 Crex pratensis, 451, 466 Crocidura cerulea, 96 Crossbill, 179; var., 8 Crow, Carrion, in Irish Channel, 179, 192; Grey, nesting in Suffolk, 350, 390; Hooded, 179 Cuckoo, 224, 306, 461; late, in Scot- land, 350, 353, 891,—in Italy, 390; calling in July, 483; in October, 433; note uttered while flying, 457 Cuculus canorus, 224, 806, 350, 358, 390, 391, 488, 457, 461 Curlew, Stone, nesting habits, 218 ; in Oxfordshire, recollections of, 18; in Merioneth, 154; egg, a spotless, 352, Cyanecula suecica, 389, 421; wolfi, 23, 419, 431 | Cygnus musicus, 157, 453 Cymochorea leucorrhoa, 29 | Cyprinus carpio, 885 Cypselus apus, 266, 306, 350, 366, 461 Dafila acuta, 229, 274, 275, 427 Daulias luscinia, 226 Dendrocopus major, 314, 449, 462 Dendrocyena javanica, 427 X1V Deroplatys desiccata, 295, 296, 304; shelfordi, sp.n., 296 Diary, a naturalist’s, 281, 871 Dipper, 210 Diver, Red-throated, protection of, at its Irish breeding-place, 91, 154 Donax vittatus, 185 Donegal, ornithological notes from, 89 Dormouse in Cardiganshire, 104 Dotterel in Cheshire, 180, 230 Dove, Ring, 212; Rock, inland in Somerset, 108, 153, 208, 230, 317; Stock, in Isle of Man, 180, 212, 316, 319; Turtle, 180 Dromeus ater, 81; irroratus, 82; nove-hollandiz, 82, 461 Duck, Sheld, 180, — nestling, fig., 181; Tufted, in Merionethshire, 316 Duck’s bill, variability in colour, 107 Dungeness, birds of, 214 Eagle, White-tailed, in Suffolk, 107; at Leadenhall Market, 458 Egg of Curlew, a spotless, 352 Eggs of birds, protective coloration of, 73 Emberiza cirlus, 305, 448 ; citrinella, 805, 353, 365, 465; miliaria, 305, 465 ; rustica, 419 ; schceeniclus, 365, 465 Emeu, Australian, 461; Black, 81,— fig.,83; Common, 82; Spotted, 82 Erithacus rubecula, 262, 363, 461, 465 Kudromias morinellus, 230, 450 Falco exsalon, 367, 419, 445; pere- grinus, 91, 92, 420, 421; subbuteo, 351, 421,445; tinnunculus, 92, 267, 306, 367 Falcon, Peregrine, 212 Felis chaus, 94; domestica, 234 Field notes, 281, 371 Fireflies ia writings of antiquity, 113 Flamingo nesting in Bahama Island, 40 Flints, chipped, at Yenangyoung, Up- per Burma, 254 Flycatcher, Pied, 178 Food of Quail, 138; of Gulls, 461 Fowls, Long-tailed Japanese, experi- ments with, 160 Fox, Flying, destruction by, in Syd- ney, 234 Fratercula arctica, 277, 3810 Fringilla celebs, 157, 305, 865; monti- fringilla, 365 Fulica atra, 224, 452 CONTENTS. Fuligula cristata, 233, 275, 316; fe- rina, 233, 275 Fusus antiquus, 187 Gadus morrhua, 883 Gallinago major, 421; cclestis, 369, 428, 451; gallinula, 369, 428; ster- nura, 428 Gallinula chloropus, 158, 238, 351 Gannet, 213 Garrulus glandarius, 27 | Gaur or Pyoung, Burmese, 264 Geese, Bean, British (Plate II.), 41; British Grey, 268, 315; Domestic, variety in, 28 Gerbillus indicus, 98 Giraffe’s bilobed canine, use of, 225 Glareola melanoptera, 421; pratin- cola, 420 | Geat suckling a lamb, 311 | Gobius capito, 429; paganellus, 429; niger, 429 | Goby, Giant, in Cornwall, 429 Godwit, Bar-tailed, 208 Goldcrest, 210 Goldfinch in Australia, 191, 236; in Tasmania, 191; in South Africa, | 227, 4382; status in Britain, 23, 70, 104, 152, 190 Goose, Bean, 209,—variation of, 164; Snow, in Ireland, 459 Grampuses on Yorkshire coast, 388 Grebe, Great Crested, on Mansfield Reservoir, 231 Greenfinch, albino, 21 Greenshank, 209 Grouse, Black. 180; Red, 212 Gryllacris, 296 | Guernsey, ornithological notes from, 231, 277 Guillemot, Black, 181; Common, variation in, 194, 230, 275 Gull, Black-headed, nesting, 128, 224 ; Common, 180; Herring, 308, 352; Lesser Black-headed, 218, 308, 352; Little, var., 172; Sabine’s, in York- shire, 353, 394, 436 Gulls feeding, 461 Hematopus ostralegus, 308, 369 Halcyon smyrnensis, 428 Haliaétus albicilla, 107, 867, 445, 458; leucocoryphus, 426 Hampshire downs, prolificness of Sheep on, 40 Harrier, Hen, in Dorset, 152,—in Notts, 459; Montagu’s, in Derby- shire, 268 CONTENTS. Hawfinch, 178; var., 104 Hawk, Sparrow, 212 Hebrides, Outer, Avifauna of, 113 Hedgehog, albino, in Yorkshire, 387 Helcion pellucidum, 186 Helix aspersa, 188; nemoralis, 188 ; virgata, 102 Henicocephalus sp., habit of, 466 Herodias alba, 428 Heron, 213; Purple, in Hertford- shire; 107 Heros sp., 384 Herpestes mungo, 95 Hestiasula sarawaca, 296, 802,—fig., 297 Hierodula bipapilla, 801; dyaka, 2938, 298, 299 Hierodule, 298, 295, 301, 303 Himantopus candidus, 450 Hippocampus antiquorum, 383 Hirundo rustica, 227, 305, 365 Hobby in South Warwickshire, 351 Hybrid between Blackbird and Song- Thrush, 12; between Domestic Pigeon and Columba cnas, 73; between Linnet and Bullfinch, 137 Hybridization of Columba palumbus, 401 Hydrobia pellucida var., 186 ; ; ulve, 186; ventrosa, 186 Hydrochelidon hybrida, 498; nigra, 393, 421, 453, 460 Hydrophasianus chirurgus, 428 Hymenopus bicornis, 299, 302, 303, 304 Hystrix leucura, 98 Ichthyosaurus thyreospondylus, skel- eton from Yorkshire, 116 Idolum diabolicum, 298; diabroticum, 295 Indian marsh, bird-life on, 426 Insects, migration and dispersal, 240 Instinct and reason, 828, 398 IRELAND.—Notes, 89; Great Bustard, 153; Red-throated Diver, 154 ; Birds of Dublin, &., 176; White Wagtail, 190, 226, 889; Raven, 191; Carrion Crow, 192; Guille- mot, 194; Swallow, 227; Mistletoe Thrush, 312; Wigeon, 391; Pere- grine, 433; Waxwing, 456; Siskin, 456; Cuckoo, 457; Snow-Goose, 459; Little Crake, 460 Isle of Man, White Wagtail in 266; Grasshopper Warbler, 313; Tree- Sparrow, 313; Stock-Dove,316,391 ; Water-Rail, 317; Black Tern, 460 XV Tynx torquilla, 232, 449, 462 Jay, migration of, 27, 179 Kestrel, 267 Kingfisher, 208 Kirkeudbrightshire, vertebrates of, 38 Kite, probable extinction of, 228, 270 Knot, 209 Lacuna divaricata, 186; 186; pallidula, 186 Lagopus scoticus, 157 Landrail in Oxfordshire, 65 Lanius collurio, 305; excubitor, 151, 462; rufus, 446 Lapwing, nesting habits of, 219, 222 Lark, Wood, in West Suffolk, 72; in Australia, 236 Larus argentatus, 91, 278, 308, 317; canus, 288, 854; fuscus, 808, 317, 352; leucopterus, 157; marinus, 309; ridibundus, 224, 277 Larva, lepidopterous, curious pro- tective device in a (Plate IV.), 161 Larve attacking Toad, 74 Legs of birds during flight, 139 Lepus ruficaudatus, 99 Ligurinus chloris, 305, 365, 465 Limax agrestis, 188; maximus, 188 Limnea palustris, 188; peregra, 188; stagnalis, 188 Limosa belgica, 436; lapponica, 370, 462 Limulus polyphemus, 383 Lincolnshire, notes from, 29, 486; North-East, migration of birds in, 361 Linota cannabina, 305; flavirostris, 365; rufescens, 26, 72, 105, 106, 457 Littorina littorea, 186; neritoides, 186; obtusata, 186; rudis, 186 Lleyn, birds of, 201 Locustella nevia, 447; in Isle of Man, 313 Loligo vulgaris, 187 Loripes lacteus, 184 Loxia bifasciata, 420; 448, 462 Lucilia sylvarum, 75 Lucioperea sandra, 385 Lutra vulgaris, 96 gracilior var., curvirostra, Macacus rhesus, 94 Machetes pugnax, 369, 436 Mactra solida, 185; stultorum, 185 Magpies and other birds in Russia killed for ladies’ hats, 240 XV1 Mammals collected and observed in Darbhanga District, Tirhoot, Ben- gal, 94; of Suffolk, 81 ‘Man’s Place in the Universe,’ 239 Mantide, Bornean, bionomical notes on some, 299 Mantis religiosa, 296, 303 Mareca penelope, 275, 368 Martin, House, early arrival in Nor- folk, 152; late, at Kastbourne, 455 Maternal impressions, influence of, on offspring, 117 Megaderma lyra, 97 Megrim and other fishes at Yar- mouth, 354 Merganser, Red-breasted, in Che- shire, 459 Mergulus alle, 157, 453 Mergus albellus, 233; merganser, 4535 serrator, 92, 818, 459 Merlin, 211 Mesogonistius chetodon, 384 Metallyticus semizneus, 299, 308 Mice and Rats blind, 430 Micropterus salmonides, 385 Migration of Jays, 27; Rooks, 1238; birds in N. E. Lincolnshire, 361 Milvus ictinus, 228, 278, 419; regalis, 446 Modiola modiolus, 184 Mole, 78 Molge pyrrhogastra, 385 Mollusea of Great Yarmouth District, 182 Montacuta bidentata, 184 Moorhen, albino, 351 Motacilla alba, 155, 190, 226, 266, 389; borealis, 420; feldeggi, 420; flava, 420; lugubris, 313, 364, 465 ; melanope, 90; raii, 364 Murex erinaceus, 187 Mus alexandrinus, 98; buduga, 98; decumanus, 98, 454; musculus, 98; sylvaticus wintoni at Tostock, Suf- folk, 150, 266, 311 Musceardinus avellanarius, 104 Muscicapa atricapilla, 364; griseola,90 Mustela erminea, 189; flavigula, 96; | vulgaris, 189 Mustelus vulgaris, 383 Mya arenaria, 185; truncata, 185 Myiopsittacus monachus, 1 Myotis myotis, 387; natteri, 349 Mytilus edulis, 183 Nassa incrassata, 187; nitida, 187; reticulata, 187 Natica alderi, 186; catena, 186 CONTENTS. Natural History Museum, number of visitors to, 238 Nesocia bengalensis, 98 Nesting of Lesser Redpoll in Middle- sex, 26,—in Somerset, 457; habit of, 26, 72, 105, 106; of Flamingo in Bahama Islands, 40; sites of Blackbird and Song-Thrush, 69; early, of Shag, 153, 192; of Raven in Co. Antrim, 191; of Ringed Plover, 198, 219 ; of Stone-Curlew, 218; of Lapwing, 219, 222; of Black-headed Gull, 224; of Mis- tletoe-Thrush, 226, 312; of Lesser Black-backed and Herring-Gulls, 261, 808, 317, 352; of Pied Wagtail, 3183; habit of Long-tailed Tit, 350 ; of Grey Crow, 350, 390 Netta rufina, 426 Nettion crecea, 368 Nettopus coromandelianus, 427 Nidification of Black-headed Gull, 128 ; of Ringed Plover, 129; Night- ingale, late arrival in Somerset, 22.6 Nightjar, 211 Norfolk, ornithological notes from, for 1902, with references to some occur- rences in other counties (Plate II1.), 121 Nucula nitida, 184; nucleus, 184 Numenius arquata, 224, 307, 352, 352, 358, 370; phzopus, 224, 370 | Nuthateh, 178 Nyctea scandiaca, 158 Nycticorax griseus, 450 Nyroca ferruginea, 426 ; 427 fuligula, OBITUARY— Carus, Prof. J. Victor, 199 Radde, M. Gustav, 199 Spencer, Herbert, 472 Octopus vulgaris, 187 Odostomia dolioliformis, 186; uniden- tata, 186 (Hdemia fusca, 458; nigra, 368, 453 (idicnemus crepitans, 450 ; scolopax, 154, 216, 218, 306 Oriolus galbula, 447 Osmerus eperlanus, 383 Osprey in Notts, 459 Ospreys, English-killed, 234 Ostrea edulis, 183 Otis tarda, 368 Otocorys alpestris, 366 Ouzel, Ring, 211; near London, 454 { ; CONTENTS. Owl, Barn, 208; Long-eared, 208; Short-eared, var., 187; Tawny, 180 Oxfordshire, notes on the ornithology of, 5, 59, 444, 463 Paludina vivipara, 187 Panurus biarmicus, 447 Paradoxus niger, 95 Parrot building in the open (Plate I), 1; Quaker, 1 Partridge, curious accident caused by a, 169 Parus ceruleus, 268, 318, 8364; major, 263, 364 Passer domesticus, 805, 3865, 465; montanus, 313, 365, 448, 462, 465 Patella vulgata, 186 Pearls in Mussels, 238 Pecten opercularis, 183; varius, 183 Pelargopsis gurial, 428 Perdix cinerea, 462 Peregrines, strange behaviour of, 433 Pernis apivorus, 315, 367, 446 Petrel, Fork-tailed, in Somerset, 29; Storm, 181, 209 Phalacrocorax carbo, 232, 307, 453; eraculus, 91, 153, 192, 232, 307 Phalarope, Red-necked, breeding in Treland, 116 ; Phalaropus hyperboreus, 116, 436 Phoea groenlandica, 312 Pholas candida, 185; dactylus, 185 Phylloscopus rufus, 263, 363 ; sibila- trix, 263, 447; trochilus, 364 Physa hypnorum, 187 Pica rustica, 232, 305 Pigeon, Domestic, and Columba cenas, hybrids between, 73 Pintail, 209; inland in Cheshire, 229, 274 Pipit, Tawny, in Sussex, 431; Tree,178 Pisidium amnicum, 187 Planorbis complanatus, 187; corneus, 187; vortex, 187 Platalea leucorodia, 419 Platanesta gangetica, 99 Plectrophenax nivalis, 108, 157, 365, 448 Plegadis falcinellus, 419 Pleurotoma rufa, 187; turricula, 187 Plover, Grey, 208 ; Ringed, nidifica- tion ‘Of, 129, 193, 219 Podicipes albipennis, 498 ; cristatus, 231, 370, 427; fluviatilis, 224; mi- nor, 466; nigricollis, 10; rubri- collis, 453 Porphyrio poliocephalus, 428 Porzana parva, 460 xvii Pratincola rubetra, 224, 262, 362, 447; rubicola, 262, 362, 447 Pratincole, Black-winged, in Sussex, 392 Procellaria pelagica, 91, 309 Proteus anguineus, 385 Pseudogryphus californianus, 109 Pteropus medius, 96; poliocephalus, 234 Puffin, 213 Puffinus anglorum, 90; major, 30 Pupa umbilicata, 188 Purpura lapillus, 186; imbratica, 186 Pyoung or Gaur, Burmese, 264 Pyrrhocorax graculus, 90, 232, 305 Pyrrhula europea, 108, 232 Japillus var. Quail, 208; food of, 138 Querquedula crecea, 275 Rail, Water, in Isle of Man, 209, 317 Rallus aquaticus, 233, 317, 368 Rat, Common, hairless specimens of, 454 Rats and Mice, blind, 430 Ravens nesting in Co. Antrim, 121 Razorbill, var., 158 Reason, can and do birds ? do men also ? 396 Recurvirostra avocetta, 421 Redpoll, Lesser, 211; nesting in Middlesex, 26,—in Somerset, 457; a nesting habit of, 26, 72, 105, 106; in Cardiganshire, 106 Redshank carrying her young, 275 Redstart, 177,—var., 187; Black, 177, —at Bloxworth, Dorset, 454 Redwing, var., 29, 207 Regulus cristatus, 263, 363; igni- capillus, 232, 419, 455 Reptiles of Suffolk, 31 Rhinolophus affinis, 97; rus, 430 Rhombodera basalis, 299,—fig., 294 Ring for large birds, fig., 136 Rissoa inconspicua, 186; interrupta, var,, 186; parva, 186; tridactyla, 278, 308 hipposide- Roebuck, Mr. W. Denison, testimo- nial to, 38 Rooks, a migration of, 128 Ruff, 180 Ruticilla phenicurus, 363, 447; titys, 3638, 454 Salmo irideus, 385 Sanderling, 208 XVIi1 Sandpiper, Common, 212; Purple, in Anglesey, 154 Sark, bird notes in, 260, 305 Saxicava arctica, var., 185; rugosa, 185 Saxicola cenanthe, 90, 362, 447 Sciurus palmarum, 97 Sclater, Dr. P. L., 78; W. L., 198 Scolopax rusticula, 193, 233, 369 ScottanpD—Blackbird, 69, 70; Song- Thrush, 69; Hybrids, 23; Notes, 108, 353; Shag, 153; Osprey, 234; Goat suckling a Lamb, 311; Cuc- koo, 350, 891; Swift, 350; Lesser Black-backed Gull, 308, 352; Her- ring-Gull, 808, 3852; White-tailed Eagle, 458 Scrobecularia alba, 185; nitida, 185; piperata, 185 Scyllium canicula, 3883 Sea-bird slaughter, 354, 395 Sea-birds inland, 277 Seal and Whale Fishery of 1902, 53 Seal, Harp, in Great Britain, 312 Sea-serpent ?, 38 Semnopithecus entellus, 94 Sepia officinalis, 187 Sepolia rondeletii, 187 Sexual selection and the esthetic sense in birds, 407 Shag, early nesting, 153, 192 Shearwater, Manx, 213 Sheep on Hampshire Downs, 40 Shetland, ornithological notes from, 157, 468 Shoebill, or White-headed Stork, in Giza Zoological Gardens, 159 Shoveler, &c., in Valley of Avon, Hampshire, 274 Shrew, Lesser, in Suffolk, 69 Shrike, Great Grey, var., 67,— in West Suffolk, 151; Red-backed, 178, 210 Sieboldia maxima, 385 Singing of some British birds, 334 Siskin, 178; breeding in Co. Wicklow, 456 Skua, names of two species with pointed tail-feathers, 338 Snake, Pine, in confinement, 30 Snakes, senses of, 113; ecdyses of, in British India, 336 Snipe, 212; Jack, 209 Solea lasearis, 354 Solen siliqua, 185 Sorex minutus, 69 Sparrow, Tree, 178,—in Isle of Man, 313; Hedge, 211,—var., 8 CONTENTS. Spatula clypeata, 274, 368, 427 Spermophilus grammurus, 109 Spherium corneum, 187 Squatarola helvetica, 224, 368 Starling, 179, 211; var., 187; in Aus- tralia, 236 Starlings, a second brood of, 390 Stercorarius crepidatus, 157, 3870; pomatorhinus, 370 Sterna cantiaca, 277; fluviatilis, 216, 307; fuliginosa, 393; macrura, 216, 370; minuta, 216 Stint, Little, inland in Cheshire, 392 Stoat and Weasel, 189 Strix flammea, 232, 446 Stubbs, the late Charles E., notes on Oxfordshire Ornithology by, 444 Sturnus vulgaris, 305, 366 Suecinea elegans, 188 Suffolk, mammals, reptiles, and am- phibians of, 31 Sula bassana, 307, 461 Sus cristatus, 99 Swallow, involuntary capture of a, 227 Swans, Wild, at Rainworth, 28 Swit, late occurrence in Scotland, 350 Swifts in South Hants, 266 Sydney, zoological notes from, 234 Sylvia atricapilla, 363; cinerea, 262, 363, 464; curruca, 226, 262; hor- tensis, 262; nisoria, 363; undata, 349, 423 Tadorna cornuta, 367 Talpa europea, 78 Tapes pullastra, 184 Tasmania, Goldfinch in, 191 Tectura virginea, 186 Tellina balthica, 184; fabula, 185 Tenodera superstitiosa, 298, 295, 303 Teredo navalis, 185 Tern, Black, in Cheshire, 393,—in Isle of Man, 460; Common, 212; Sooty, in Suffolk, 393 Theopropus elegans, 297, 299, 302 Thetford Warren, birds, &ce., of, 100, 155 Thrush, Mistletoe, strange nesting- place for, 226, 812; Song, nesting- sites of, 69; White’s, in Yorkshire, 116 Tit, Coal, 210; Long-tailed, 208,— nesting-habits, 350; Marsh, 158 Toad attacked by larve, 74; Natter- jack, in Suffolk, 278 Totanus calidris, 219, 275, 370, 450; canescens, 370; fuscus, 370, 436; CONTENTS. hypoleucus, 90, 369 ; ochropus, 369, 421 Trachinus draco, 383 Trigla gurnardus, 383; hirundo, 383 -Tringa alpina, 353, 369; canutus, 369; minuta, 869, 392; striata, 154; subarquata, 369 Trochus cinerarius, 186 ; zizyphinus, 186 Troglodytes parvulus, 268, 364 Tropidonotus natrix in confinement, 30) Turdus iliacus, 29, 231, 362; merula, 23, 262, 362, 461; musicus, 158, 262, 362, 465; pilaris, 231, 362; torquatus, 90, 282, 362, 447, 454; viscivorus, 226, 262, 312, 362; whitei, 116 Turnstone, 208 Turtur communis, 368 Twite, 178 Ulster Fisheries and Biology Associ- ation, 160 Upupa epops, 449 Uria grylle, 90; ringvia, 93; troile, 157, 158, 194, 278, 309 Utriculus obtusus, 187 Vandeleuria oleracea, 99 Vanellus vulgaris, 108, 219, 307, 368 Verlusia rhombea in Lincolnshire, 466 Variety of Crossbill, 8; Hedge Spar- row, 8; Partridge, 9; Greenfinch, 21; in Domestic Geese, 28; of Red- wing, 29; Great Grey Shrike, 67; Hawfinch, 104; Starling, 137; Red- start, 187; Short-eared Owl, 137; Razorbill, 158; Guillemot, 158, 194, 230, 275; Little Gull, 172; Moor- hen, 551; Hedgehog, 387 Vertebrates of Kirkcudbrightshire, 38 Vesperugo abramus, 97; serotinus, 97 Viverra zibetha, 95 Viverricula malaccensis, 95 Vole, Bank, in Suffolk, 69 Vulpes bengalensis, 95 Wagtail, White, 178, 209,—at Bart- X1xX ragh Island, Killala Bay, 190, 226, 390,—at Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, 389,—in Isle of Man, 266; Grey, 210; Pied, nesting, 313; Yellow, 178 Watres—Dormouse, 104; Lesser Red- poll, 106; Stone-Curlew, 154 ; Purple Sandpiper, 154; Birds of N. W. Wales, &c., 176; Birds of Lleyn, &c., 201; Lesser White- throat, 226; Kite, &., 228, 278; Tufted Duck, 316; Cirl-Bunting, 350; Curlew’s Egg, 352; Lesser Horseshoe Bat, 430 Warbler, Dartford, in Shropshire, 349, —northern breeding range, 423; Garden, 177; Grasshopper, in Isle of Man, 313; Reed, 177; Sedge, nesting away from water, 189; an unknown, in Oxfordshire, 343, 889; Wood, 177 Washington, National Zoo. at, 115 Water-mites, note on, 355 Waxwing in Co. Antrim, 456 Whale and Seal Fishery of 1902, 53 Whinchat, 177, 210 Whitethroat, Lesser, 177; in Cardi- ganshire, 226 Whooper, 209 Wind-bags as adjuncts in courtship among animals, 39 Woodcock, 180, 208; breeding in Kent, 193 Woodpecker, Great Spotted, 179; Green, 179, 211; Lesser Spotted, 179; Pied, 209,—breeding habits, 314 Wren, Wood, 211; Fire-crested, in Lancashire, 455 Xema sabinii, 3538, 486 Yarmouth, Great, Mollusca of, 182 Zoarces viviparus, 382 Zonites cellarius, 188; nitidulus, 188 ‘ Zoological Record’ or 1901, 37 Zoology, Applied, 467 ILLUSTRATIONS. Plate I. Nest of the Parrot (Myiopsittacus monachus) . to face 1 » II. British Bean-Geese (Anser segetwm and A. arvensis) % 41 » III. Ringed Plover (#gialitis hiaticula) on Nest : mo ae 121 ,, LY. Curious protective device in a Bornean lepidopterous 5 larva . F é 2 } é ; : be 161 » V. Some East-African Ghanvelsons : : os 321 5 WI. Characteristic Attitudes of the Common ‘“ Sea- Hore fe (Hippocampus antiquorum) j : ; : [a eG » VII. Columba palumbus Hybrids . ; : ; : | 40m ,, WIII. The Giant Goby (Gobius capito) . - : : ia 429 Black Emeu (Dromeus ater) : 3 5 ; ; : ‘ +, 883 Nestling Sheld-Duck . - 4 é : : : : - SE Ring for large birds : ; : . : » “I86 Rhombodera basalis, De Haan, dlagnine its left mid- tes after ameal . 294 — Hestiasula sarawaca, Westw., beginning to “display” . 5 aba) NATURAL HISTORY, Edited by W. Lt. Distant. EST, NEWMAN &C9 54 Hatton Garden. MPKIN, MARSHALL & Co Limited: Ka > SSBC NY PRICE = ONE’ SHILLING a5 aarti LIFE: = A FIRST BOOK OF ZOOLOGY. _ By DAYID STARR JORDAN, Ph.D., LL.D., & VERNON L. KELLOGG, M.S. | In one small octavo volume of 329 pages, with 180 beautiful illustrations, | many of which are full-page. Handsomely bound in extra cloth. Price 6s. net. “Since the publication of Semper’s ‘ Animal Life,’ we know of no pele that has surveyed the field of animal bionomics as this volume.’’—Zoologist. “One of the most readable of natural history books that have recently appeared.” —Science Gossip. JUST READY. ANIMAL FORMS: _ A SECOND BOOK OF ZOOLOGY. By DAVID STARR JORDAN, Ph.D., LL.D., HAROLD HEATH, Ph.D. In one small octavo volume of 266 pages, with 141 beautiful illustrations, many of which are full-page. Handsomely bound in extra cloth. Price — 6s. net. Lonpon: HIRSCHFELD BROTHERS, Ltd., 13, Furnivat Street, E.C. NEW ZEALAND MOTHS & BUTTERFLIES (Macro=Lepidoptera). Royal 4to, with Two Plain and Eleven Coloured Plates, containing upwards of 500 Figures. Cloth, bevelled boards, gilt tops. Price 28s, net. 3 By G. V. HUDSON, F.E:S. Author of ‘An Elementary Manual of New Zealand Entomology.’ A descriptive account of the various species is given, the arrangement followed being that of Mr. E. Meyrick, in his recent ‘ Handbook of British Lepidoptera.’ A full account of the transformation of each species is also given wherever known, many life-histories recently discovered by the author being now published for the first time. The striking variations in colouring of some of the New Zealand Moths are very fully described and illustrated—in some instances as many as nine figures being given of one species. The figures have all been drawn from nature by the Author. Two hundred and thirty- -four species are described in this work. With very few exceptions these are represented on the Plates, and by far the greater — proportion are figured for the first time. In addition to a very large number of original observations, this work contains, — it is believed, a summary of the most important facts yet published in connection — with the study of the larger species of New Zealand Moths and Butterflies. This — work is the result of many years’ investigation in the forests and mountains of this 5 beautiful and interesting country. Rete Lonpon: WEST, NEWMAN & CO., 64, Harron Ganpen. = cd libiceaiaitiniaids amauta es NEsT OF THE PARROT We Fig. 1.—Spring, 1901. (Mytopsittacus monachus). Fig. 2.—Summer, 1902. “6061 [COZ “it Sut mah. ZOOLOGLS T No. 739.—January, 1908. PARROT BUILDING IN THE OPEN: AT PARK HILL, NEW FOREST. By W. F. Rawnstey. Communicated by F. DuCANE Gopmay, D.C.L., F.R.S. (Pxiate I.) In the ‘ Avicultural Journal’ of November, 1900, there appeared a short account of the nest which our Parrot had built on the roof of the farmhouse at Pondhead, a small property attached to Park Hill, Lyndhurst. As the Parrot has, alas ! disappeared, and the nest must in time disappear also, I propose to give a fuller account of this unique and interesting structure, with iilustrations of it in various stages of its growth, which have been taken by, and are obtainable from, Mr. F. G. Short, of Lyndhurst. cA The Parrot, a South American bird, known as Myiopsittacus monachus, and often called the Quaker Parrot, from its grey head and breast, is elsewhere of an apple-green, with very pointed tail and wings, and about ten inches in length from beak to tail. It was caught by my farm-bailiff in the heather of the open forest close to the farm in August, 1899; and, as it disappeared about the time fixed for the Coronation (June 26th, 1902), its history, as far as we know it, extends over rather less than three years, during the last two of which it had been flying at liberty round the farm. Zoot. 4th ser. vol. VII., January, 1903. B bo THE ZOOLOGIST. When captured it had a partially clipped wing and a deformed foot, looking as though it had been caught in a trap. It was put into a cage, and kept at the farm through the winter. In the spring the bailiffs wife gave it to my wife, and we kept it in a cage in the drawing-room. But it never would talk, and only screamed in a harsh voice; so that when in June, 1900, it escaped whilst the cage was being cleaned, and, as its wing- feathers had grown again, flew off, we did not greatly regret it. It flew almost at once to the farm not a quarter of a mile away, and fed daily with the chickens, but did not allow itself to be taken, though it was never far from the poultry-yard. In October, 1900, it was observed to be busy on the roof of the farmhouse, weaving a tunnel-shaped bower with twigs, which it did in a very well-chosen place where the thatched roof ran into a brick chimney, getting both shelter from the wind and warmth. This tunnel was about a yard long, and the mouth of it is the lower orifice in jig. 1. In December, as it got colder, the bird changed the direction of the entrance, and it retired to this tunnel every night, and lived out the winter there. In the spring of 1901 it added another tunnel parallel to the first, the two openings side by side; but soon it blocked up this, and built another above it, and then again turned the mouth of the tunnel round towards the roof-tiles (see jig. 1), in order apparently to prevent the wet south-west wind blowing direct into its tunnel. It always occupied the latest part of the structure, often sitting in the mouth of the opening by day, but retiring inside for the night. The structure was now a yard and a half or two yards long. In April it became necessary to put new thatch on the roof, but this was done without disturbing the bird or its building, and it soon became very active, snipping off the twigs from a hawthorn hedge, and carrying them in its beak, screech- ing as it flew, with a very quick beat of its thin pointed wings, and with its pin-tail never spread. It worked most industriously, taking a long time to fix each twig, and weaving them together very neatly at the opening, which was about six inches across, and all the way along the tunnel inside. The outside twigs, though they all looked rather haphazard, were so interwoven that no wind ever dispiaced them. By May it had greatly enlarged the pile, and had brought it PARROT BUILDING IN THE OPEN. 3 down and fastened it ingeniously to the elbow of the stack-pipe, which gave increased stability, but made a bend in the tunnel necessary. The whole structure was now seven or eight feet long, and nearly three feet across at the lower end, and with this the bird seemed content. Thinking it a pity that it should not have a chance to breed, we looked out for a mate for it in the summer. There was no possibility of telling whether it was a male or a female as it was flying about, but we argued, from its nest-building industry, that it was a female, and got what was said to be a male, and, catching our bird at night in its tunnel, we put the pair into a cage. They agreed very well, but showed no signs which could certify that they were male and female. Soon we let them both fly, and, though they would keep together, the new one never offered the slightest assistance in carrying sticks or building, though the old one began to add a good deal to the existing pile. It is note- worthy that it never used any but the prickly twigs of the hawthorn as long as the hedgerows were bare, but when the leaves came on the hedges it would have no more to do with them, but betook itself to the hazel pea-sticks in the farm-garden, and bit off the topmost twigs. Some of these were visible near the spout-elbow, and many more on the roof-tiles. But, though the new mate did not work, he did a good deal of mischief, for he picked off the small green apples from the orchard-trees, and dropped them on the ground in such numbers that we were obliged to catch him and shut him up; and, lest he should have taught this trick to the old one, about which we were uncertain, for we could with difficulty tell them apart when loose, we caught and caged them both until such time as the apples should be big enough to defend themselves. But, alas! a rat got in one night and killed the new mate. We set the other free, and no more apples were plucked. In the autumn we noticed that the Parrot took longer flights, sometimes going a distance of a quarter of a mile, and often joining a flock of Starlings, with whom it would alight and apparently feed in the park or on the lawn, and fly with them to the big trees; but it never went off altogether. It passed another winter (1901-2) safely, and was again surprisingly active in adding to, and, we thought, rather spoiling, its nest, changing its door- way again, and making it as seen in fig. 2. It would fly up to é B2 4 THE ZOOLOGIST. and over the house at Park Hill, and we were often afraid that some of Mr. Lascelles’ Hawks “‘at hack ’’ might kill it. But it survived, and I never saw any bird chase it either “for food or play.” It was almost always to be found in or near the farm- yard, and was a great pleasure to watch; it seemed so busy and full of purpose, and looked so bright sitting outside or just in the mouth of its home. It was last seen at the time of the Coronation as first fixed, and after June, 1902, we saw it no more. Whether it departed with its friends the Starlings, or was taken by a Hawk or a Rat—we incline to suspect the latter—we never knew; but the place thereof knoweth it no more, and now we look at the empty nest not without a feeling of sadness. Since writing the above, I have seen, in ‘ Bird Notes’ for October, 1902, a notice of this Parrot, which is there called Bolborhynchus monachus, and is stated to be the only Parrot which is known to build a nest, weaving its huge structure on to the ends of branches, and building each spring a new one on the top of the old. The nest, which is usually entered from below, consists of an antechamber, with the true nest behind—the latter lined with grass, thorny twigs being used exclusively for building purposes. The bird is said to have an excruciating screech, though it can learn to talk well. It is further stated that a pair in the possession of Mr. Sidney Buxton built a nest five feet high and six feet in circumference, and that other pairs have also built in captivity. NOTES ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE, 1899-1901. By O. V. Apuin, F.L.S. WHERE no other locality is mentioned, the notes refer to the parish of Bloxham. 1899. January 5th.—News from Mr. W. H. Gale of a Corn-Crake caught at Nuneham on the 3rd, and then quite at home in one of the greenhouses. 19th.—Dr. Routh told me that about five years ago he saw on several days at various spots between Epwell, Shutford, and Sibford a pair of Hoopoes. It was in the late spring. He is well acquainted with the appearance of this bird. 26th.—Fieldfares and Redwings have been fairly abundant all the season. To-day there are a good many Song-Thrushes about the grass-fields. 28th.—Bullfinches numerous, and very destructive to plum- buds for some days. February.—The floods in the Sorbrook valley in the early part of this month were the largest we have had for a good many years. Vioient storms at sea lately, and here also about the 13th, 26th.—A Song-Thrush’s nest, nearly finished, in the shrub- bery. March 10th.—-Bullfinches have been singing a good deal this last month. Several pairs of Peewits to-day in a rough grass- field on this side of Duns Tew. 16th.—Blackbird sang here for the first time this season, to the best of my knowledge; this is a very late beginning. 20th.—Mistle-Thrush’s nest in orchard, apparently finished. Bitterly cold weather; snow last night, and the thermometer at 24° this morning. 23rd.—Very cold dry weather lately ; severe frosts, 6 THE ZOOLOGIST. 24th.—Ring- and Stock-Doves cooing, and other signs of softer weather. 26th.—A nest of the Long-tailed Tit, half finished, in a broom-bush. 29th.—Saw two Chiffchaffs, and heard one in song. The hedges show no sign of green, and the aspect of the country generally is quite brown. April 8th.— When Otter-hunting in the Cherwell valley, just above Somerton, saw six pairs of Wild Ducks (all doubtless breeding birds), a Snipe, and a Green Sandpiper. Mr. Foster- Melliar told me he saw a Blackcap in his garden on March 19th ; this bird had probably wintered there. 15th.—Heard the Wryneck. Not for many years have we had such persistently inclement weather in spring. No summer migrants except Chiffchaffs and Wheatears reported as yet, and the Chiffchaff is almost silent. 18th.—Several Redstarts. Cuckoo. 19th.—Swallow, Willow-Wren, Tree-Pipit. 22nd.—Visited Clattercote Reservoir with Mr. A. H. Mac- pherson, and saw there three Crested Grebes, a drake and two duck Teal, Dabchicks, Coots, Moorhens, and two Common Sand- pipers. Noticed arrival of Sand-Martin, Whitethroat, and Ray’s Wagtail. 25th.—House-Martin at Charlbury. 26th.—Visited Blenheim with Mr. J. Whitaker, and noticed a good many Coots on the lake. Blackcap near Glympton. 27th.—Mr. Fowler and I saw in Port Meadow, Oxford, seven or eight Dunlins, and five Golden Plover on the wing. Mr. Darbey told me he received a Grey Phalarope from the neighbourhood of Oxford in the middle of February, and a Corn-Crake which was killed by flying against the telegraph-wires on the 19th inst. He also showed me two Crossbills (green and red), killed at Pusey (three miles over our borders) earlyin the year. Noticed the Sedge Warbler. 30th.—Lesser Whitethroat. Mr. Darbey informed me this month that he received an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull in the early part of the year, which had been shot near Oxford. Mr. G. W. Bradshaw has recorded an adult bird of this species, shot at Caversham Lock on the 30th April, 1898 (Zool. 1899, p- 136). ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. u May 10th.—Mr. Fowier told me that he saw several Lesser Redpolls in Christ Church meadow this morning. I saw one there in the afternoon. Mr. Trench, of Lincoln College, told me he heard Stone Curlews passing over Lincoln College, calling, about 11 p.m. last night. He is well acquainted with the bird. 11th.—Swift and Whinchat. 12th.—Mistle-Thrush has been in song constantly up to this date ; more than one sing in or close to the garden. I never heard it in better form than it was this morning. At times one bird sings a few notes in the manner of a Song-Thrush, but the song usually consists only of the rollicking strain, followed some- times by a few confused shrill hard notes, lower in tone. 13th.—Several of the twenty-eight young Rooks shot to-day had more or less white chins, and some had part of the under mandible yellowish white, one almost entirely so. I always notice this variation at this particular rookery. 15th.—Spotted Flycatcher and Turtle-Dove. 16th.—A few Nightingales visited the immediate neighbour- hood this season. ‘Two or three pairs are established on the Grove estate, and a nest was taken later on in Bloxham Gate spinney (a nest at the bottom of the plantation last year got off safely); one was heard at Milton on the 28th April, and I heard one near Lower Worton to-day. Mr. Charles Jeffreys informs me that he has preserved a Peregrine Falcon which was shot at Kirtlington on the 16th February. 18th.—A Redstart has a nest and seven eggs in one of the new nesting-boxes here. June 6th.—Heard the Mistle-Thrush singing. It sang regu- larly and daily until the end of May. 7th.—A Mistle-Thrush perched on the house-roof ridge. The next day it settled on the stable-roof. 8th.—Heard Nightingale at South Newington. 15th to 4th July.—Away from home. July 8th.—Goldfinches have been seen feeding young lately in my man’s garden, which adjoins mine. 21st.—In consequence of the very dry weather, Starlings, Robins, and Warblers (Garden Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats chiefly, with some Blackcaps) have been destructive to red cur- rants, and Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes to gooseberries. 8 THE ZOOLOGIST. August 3rd.—The drought continues with great severity. Wheat harvest began here on the 24th ult. Birds (Starlings and Robins included) have eaten great quantities of bush-fruit. 10th.—The country is wonderfully brown. Apples falling off the trees; plums will not swell properly ; butter is very scarce ; outdoor peaches already ripe. The air is wonderfully clear and dry, and the golden mellow light of the afternoons remarkably beautiful. But it is the most destructive drought experienced for many years. In proof of the dryness of the air, it may be mentioned that it is difficult to harvest beans, the pods bursting when they are touched. Wasps are scarce, strange to say. 11th.—Many Swifts, noisy at evening. 13th.—Fewer Swifts. 15th.—Still a few Swifts. A good rain fell at last. 23rd.—The drought has resumed its sway. Harvest finished. Blackbirds very destructive to ripening plums. 25th.—On a barley-stubble, very foul, and gay with poppies which have flowered since the barley was cut, I saw a flock of over two hundred Turtle-Doves, feeding almost in the manner of Starlings. There is a spinney of ash-poles and thorn-bushes near there, where some are bred, and all these birds were probably bred in the district. The Turtle-Dove has increased very much in North Oxon of late years. Twenty years ago we considered it rather uncommon. 26th.—In the ‘ Field’ of this date it is stated by Mr. J. M. Marshall, of Wallingford, that a pair of Hobbies had recently bred in Brightwell Park, and that a keeper had shot one old and two young birds. Mr. Darbey afterwards told me he had a female from Brightwell this month. I was talking to-day to a man (about thirty years of age) about the decrease in the number of Fieldfares which visit us, when he told me that when quite a boy he killed forty-five at three shots. 27th.—Flock of about a dozen Mistle-Thrushes. 30th.—Another rain; the drought somewhat abated. Mr. Bartlett showed me two Crossbills which were shot in the larches on the hill at Bodicote in the late autumn of 1897. They were in very fresh plumage, of a brick-red mottled with yellow; the latter colour more clearly defined in one than in the other. Also a variety of the Hedge-Sparrow; it had two or three white ) ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. i) feathers in the wings, breast and belly white with the exception of a few feathers, scapulars white, back nearly all white, crown partly white. It was shot at Great Bourton in March, 1898. Also two adult male Pied Woodpeckers—one from Tusmore, killed two years ago; the other shot in the neighbourhood of Banbury more recently. September 1st.—Flock of Mistle-Thrushes. A Wheatear and a party of about fifteen Pied Wagtails on a ploughing. A Red-legged Partridge, fully moulted, had the legs, bili, and eye- lids orange instead of red ; it was a heavy bird, requiring 18 oz. and a sixpence to balance it. 5th.—Saw a Clouded Yellow Butterfly in a potato-field. Red Admirals are very abundant, and feed on fallen plums and on those hanging on the trees which the Blackbirds have pecked. 81° in the shade. 8th.—Shot a very curious Partridge on Bloxham Grove. The rusty colour on the head, face, and throat very bright and well developed. The grey vermiculated feathers on the breast from the throat downwards mostly dashed with the same rusty yellow. Sides of the belly and rump the same, and many of the flank-feathers tipped and splashed with the same. The bright rusty yellow of the upper throat extending over the breast and belly suggests the colouration of Perdix daurica. I exhibited the bird at the British Ornithologists’ Club meeting in April, 1900. Five or six brace of birds killed in the same field the same week showed no signs of abnormal colouring. 9th.—A vast flock of Linnets (perhaps between one and two thousand) on a barley-stubble, very foul with knot-grass and other weeds, at Milcomb. 10th.—About dusk a Landrail rose from a strip of roadside grass, and flew at once over a rather high hedge close to me. 13th.—Very big flock of Peewits in a field of thin swedes. Partridges are fairly numerous and strong this season, though scarcer on hilly ground than they should be, doubtless in con- sequence of the great drought. On the 25th August I saw an old Partridge drinking at a spring, a thing I never happened to see before. Of “cover” there is practically none, swedes having been an almost entire failure. Red-legged Partridges are more numerous than ever. ‘To-day three brace out of thirteen 10 THE ZOOLOGIST. and a half at Milecomb and South Newington were young Red- legs. 14th.—News from Mr. Fowler of Hobbies haunting a great roost of Swallows at Kingham (vide Zool. 1899, p. 476). 15th. — Swallows and Martins congregating on the roof of this house this morning; being of rough ‘ stonesfield slate,” facing east and standing high, this roof is a favourite gathering- place. 22nd.—A great congregation of Swallows and Martins on the roof until after 8 a.m. When they flew up they were like a swarm of bees. They returned to the roof two or three times. This has been going on for some days. Mr. Bartlett showed me two Kared Grebes (Podicipes nigricollis) over the moult, or nearly so, which were shot on a pond about three miles north-west of Banbury on the 19th inst. I afterwards bought them. They were proved by dissection to be a male and female, and are probably a pair of adult birds which had bred, or attempted to breed, in the neighbourhood. Although their irides were bright yellow, not red, I do not think they were birds of the previous year which had passed the summer with us without breeding, as is, I believe, the case with Grebes in the first season after that in which they are hatched; because the eyes of Grebes vary a good deal (perhaps according to the season), and because the male still exhibits some rufous colour on the sides of the head. This colour is not shown by birds in the spring following that in which they are hatched, and is certainly not assumed in autumn. The birds had not been seen on the pond on which they were shot before the morning they were killed, but there are several large reservoirs in the neighbourhood—one of them not more than four or five miles away—which would have afforded them a congenial summer home. Three days after they were killed their bills were blackish, and their legs blackish olive, or blackish with a strong tinge of green. Upper parts of the body nearly as dark as the summer dress. Throat white, the white extending nearly to the nape in the female. In the male the sides of the head tinged with rufous. Fore-neck intermediate between sum- mer and winter plumage. Breast greyish. Mr. T. A. Coward kindly sent for my inspection a male shot in Anglesey on the lst August, 1892 (Zool. 1892, p. 358). I think it was hatched in ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 11 1891, and had not moulted in the summer of 1892. The sides of the head are tinged with brown, not with rufous as in my male. Plumage of the upper parts has a worn appearance. 25th.—On high ground near Tadmarton Heath, late in the afternoon, found many Meadow-Pipits on stubble and among “seeds.” Three brace out of twelve and a half at Milcomb were Red-legged Partridges. 27th.—Chifichaff in song in the garden. 28th.—The congregation of Swallows and Martins, especially the former, has been smaller the last two mornings. 29th.—Very few on the roof, but a good many about the fields in the day. Many Pied Wagtails on the fresh ploughings —quite a flock in two places. Coal-Tit with spring note. October 4th.— Mr. C. Jefferys on this date received from Kirtlington an immature male Hobby. A Marsh-Harrier, believed to be a three-year-old male, wounded and captured on the 2nd inst., has been recorded by Mr. T. Terry Cooper, of Swallowfield, Reading (Zool. 1900, p. 143). 6th.—Again (after an interval) a good many Swallows and Martins on the roof. A Landrail shot in the Mileomb Road allotments. Very scarce this year. I only heard one in the spring. 7th.—No Swallows or Martins on the roof to-day, and hardly any to be seen anywhere. ‘Those on the roof yesterday were no doubt passing migrants. A Starling here imitates the Green Woodpecker’s cry pretty well. 8th.—A few Swallows passing slowly westward, although at first sight they appeared to be merely hawking for insects. 1lth.—A good many Goldfinches about the thistly fields on Milecomb hills. Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes swarm in the hedges and in Milcomb gorse, where there is a wonderful crop of hips, haws, and blackberries, the bushes of the last-named looking perfectly black at the top with ripe fruit. Flocks of Meadow-Pipits in long grass on hillside. 18th.—Great and Blue Tits carefully searching a row of large plants of *‘ cottage kail”’ infested with the grey aphis, which has done so much damage this season. 19th.—A Humming-bird Hawk Moth (numerous ae year) at a petunia blossom. 12 THE ZOOLOGIST. 20th.—News of a Woodcock shot in potato-field at Hook Norton on the 7th. 28th.—Redwings in the hedges, which look quite red in the distance from the heavy crop of haws. At the end of this month a Grey Phalarope (now in my possession) was picked up at Kirt- lington. Mr. Darbey told me that he had a male Peregrine Falcon from Tar Wood this month. November 6th.—News of an adult Gannet caught alive in a field at Lower Tadmarton on the Ist inst. Chaffinch sang all its song, but poorly; and again the next day. 7th.—News from Mr. R. Surman, of Oxford, that he had in a cage a bird he believed to bea hybrid between the Blackbird and Song-Thrush. He caught it outside Worcester College gardens, where it was probably hatched. I called to see the bird in July, 1900, when it had much the shape of a Blackbird, a dull orange bill, back brownish black, and under parts mottled brown. At the end of August, 1901, I saw it again; it was partly in moult, Upper parts chiefly a dark rich bronze-brown or umber-brown,. Under parts mottled. Bull yellow with a brownish tinge. Mr. Surman said it sang a little, and that the song was peculiar, although something like a Blackbird’s. 8th.—Saw in the large meadow called Bestmoor, in the Cher- well valley above Somerton, a flock of about one hundred and fifty Golden Plovers, with a lot of Peewits. 10th.—A few Fieldfares about. A flock seen going to roost in the evergreens at Great Tew on the 8th. Great numbers of Greenfinches, Starlings, Wood-Pigeons, and other birds roost there. Two Goldfinches in the garden, and several about the Milcomb hills. 18th.—Fieldfares often passing over now. 28th.—A good many Fieldfares and Redwings. News of a Fork-tailed Petrel picked up dead in a ploughed field at South Stoke about the middle of the month, after a strong gale from S.W. and W. December 2nd.—Three and a half out of ten and a half brace of Partridges between Milcomb, Barford, and South Newington were Red-legs. Many Fieldfares and Redwings. 8th.—Three or four wild Snipe in the Sorbrook valley here ; scarce birds in these upper valleys. ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 13 11th.—Sharp frost. A Snipe at South Newington. 12th.—Three inches of snow on ground. 13th.—Snow all the forenoon. 14th.—Thermometer down to 17°, and 20° at 9.30 a.m. 16th.—Severe weather. Stock-Doves feeding on turnip-tops. 19th.—Steady cold thaw. 28th.—The want of rain during the autumn is severely felt after the dry summer. Several wells, never known to fail pre- viously, are now dry. Three or four Bramblings shot from a flock near the village. 31st.—Large flock of Bramblings, with Chaffinches and a few Sparrows, near the village. I find I have met with the Barred Woodpecker on about half a dozen occasions this year in the immediate neighbourhood of - Bloxham. It may be slightly on the increase. As it is not persecuted in any way, and is not known to or seen by one per- son in five hundred at the most, it is strange that it does not become numerous. It probably suffers much less than the Green Woodpecker from severe weather, as it does not feed on the ground ; but it seems to be a law of nature that Woodpeckers should noé be numerous. I am indebted to Mr. Heatley Noble for the following inter- esting notes :— In the shooting season of 1894-5 an immature White-tailed Eagle remained for some weeks in Fawley Court Deer Park, and enjoyed the protection of Mr. Mackenzie, who on one occasion saw the Hagle settle in a tree just over his head. Mr. Noble also saw the bird. — A female Smew was killed on the river at Hennerton about 1881. In J892 or 1893 a pair of Pied Flycatchers are said by the Hon. and Rev. A. Parker to have nested in his garden at Bix. The Royston Crow is occasionally seen in the neighbourhood of Henley-on-Thames, but is rare. Mr. Noble saw a Stone Curlew three times in one day, getting quite close to it, on a rabbit-warren at Stonor, on Nov. 13th, 1899. This is the latest date in the autumn on which I have known the “ Curloo ” to occurin Oxon. 14 THE ZOOLOGIST. A female Scaup was shot on the river at Hennerton on the 13th November, 1888. The Tufted Duck, Pochard, Wigeon, and Golden-eye all occur on that part of the river in winter. Mr. J. A. Bucknill informs me that he saw about seven Common Terns on Port Meadow, Oxford, as late as December in 1891, and that one was shot on the 11th, and brought to him. In February, 18938, he saw two on Otmoor, and another at Bab- lock Hythe. A Green Sandpiper was shot (and brought to him) on the river at Oxford on the 30th November, 1891, during a heavy flood. Mr. Bucknill saw a drake Golden-eye in full plumage on Clattercote Reservoir on the 14th December, 1895. It is un- common in this dress in Oxon. He also saw a flock of about twenty Grey Geese on Otmoor during a very deep and heavy flood about December, 1893. He believes three were killed by a local gunner, but they were not identified. 1900. January 2nd.—Very heavy rain last night. Blue Tit sings. 5th.—Corn-Bunting sings. Large flock of Bramblings near Mileomb. ‘This is not the same flock as that seen near Bloxham. 6th.—Coal Tit with spring note. A Bittern was flushed on the 16th December last from a ditch bordering an osier-bed within a mile of Reading (but in Oxon) by Mr. W. T. Crawshay, of Caversham Park, who recorded it in the ‘ Field’ of this date. 15th.—A good deal of rain recently. 19th —A male Bittern shot by a keeper at Shiplake. It had been observed several times during the previous five weeks, and ‘his boom could be heard occasionally in the nights.” Recorded by the Rev. J. Climenson, of Shiplake Vicarage, in a letter to the ‘Reading Mercury’ of the 20th. 20th.—A second male Bittern (weighing 2 1b. 7 oz.)) shot in the same place by the same man. It was seen in the flesh by Mr. Bradshaw, who wrote me word of it. The ‘ Oxford Times’ of this date reports a Bittern shot at Pinkle Lock, near Kynsham, by Mr. G. Longford, and preserved by Mr. George Barson. | Many others occurred in different parts of the country about this time. February 3rd.—Seven inches of snow on the ground ; no ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 15 drifting. Bullfinches eating plum-blossom buds. A number of Bramblings with Chaffinches near Hook Norton reported yester- day. Wind north. 6th.—Sharp frost. Mr. Coombs, of Chipping Norton, showed me a Buzzard, shot at Ditchley in the early autumn of last year ; also a Crossbill—an adult orange-coloured bird—one of a dozen which haunted some larches near that town in the winter of 1898-99. 7th.—Very severe frost. Mistle-Thrush eating holly-berries within a yard of my window. The berries are now nearly finished ; last winter they were hardly touched. News from Mr. Darby of a Grey Shrike shot at Nuneham on the 5th. 8th.—Severe frost (14°), and only 19° at 10 a.m. 11th.—Birds very tame. Mistle-Thrush eating berries of Cotoneaster microphylla trained on house, and from another bush in front of the dining-room window. 12th.—I saw a Hedge-Sparrow eat some grains of wheat given to the poultry. We have here a Hedge-Sparrow with one or two of the outer primaries in one wing white; these are con- spicuous when it flies. 13th.—Great numbers of birds come to be fed. Intense frost, 14th.—Another deep snow last night. It lies about ten inches deep on the lawn, and there are huge drifts. Mistle-Thrush eating berries of Cotoneaster sumondsi, which are seldom eaten by birds. Rook and Jackdaws with the other birds at the food put out in the garden, and about a hundred Starlings this morning. Where these have come from it is hard to say, for in severe weather it is usually difficult to see half a dozen about the village. They have gradually increased at the feeding-place from day to day, and must have some means of communicating the fact that food is to be had here to their fellows. 15th.—Furious storm of rain and snow. 17th.—Saw_a big flock of Ducks flying over. 19th.—Rapid thaw and heavy rain. Blackbird sings, and Chaffinch. . 20th.—A flock of birds on a stubble consisted of about half Bramblings (the maies getting very dark), and the rest Chaf- finches and Tree-Sparrows. Very big floods in the valleys. 21st.—Ground white with fresh snow. 16 THE ZO00LOGIST. 22nd.—Very mild. 24th.—The floods have been larger than any since 1894. 26th.—Mr. Fowler writes from Kingham :—‘‘I rarely see a Stonechat here ; but yesterday, in the morning, I found a pair— the male in such gorgeous spring plumage that he shone re- splendent even at a distance. In the afternoon the rector and I found several more. All were on hedge-tops by the roadside, in places which here are never their haunts.” Vast flocks of Bramb- lings near the village at the end of the month. Over five inches of rain fell this month. March 3rd.—Only a small number of Brambliugs in their old haunt. ‘To judge by the amount of their respective songs to be heard, Blackbirds have withstood the severe weather better than the Song-Thrushes. 5th.—Crossing an upland field near the village through which a ditch runs, a Jack-Snipe rose under my feet as I crossed the ditch. A large flock of Peewits in the meadows near Somerton, though some were at the breeding-places on the fallows, and had the spring calls. A big flock of Linnets ona clover-field. 12th.—Mr. Bartlett showed me a male Tufted Duck, shot at Wroxton recently. Also ablue-billed Hawfinch, shot there from a flock of twenty, and several Bramblings, which had been very abundant in the east of Banbury, twenty having been killed at a couple of shots; several of them were females. 17th.—About sundown a great flock of Starlings passed over, going S.K. Although they were so high up that they looked no larger than Tomtits, the rushing noise they made attracted my attention. Possibly they were going to a large fox-cover called Dene Hill, for I heard later that such vast numbers had roosted there that they had caused the Foxes to vacate it. 18th.—About three inches of snow on the ground, and snow- showers. 24th.—A Robin building in one of the boxes. 27th.— During a long and unsuccessful search for spring migrants, I saw two Barred Woodpeckers, a female Redpoll, and some Bramblings, including a good dark male: it is very late for this bird to be with us. 30th.—Another Barred Woodpecker. April 3rd.—Weather still very cold. a ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 17 4th.—Robin in box has one egg. 10th.—Wood-Pigeons come here every evening to feed on ivy-berries. A Chiffchaff was seen to-day by my brother in the Cherwell valley; it was silent. Hedges show no sign of green. 12th.—Mr. Fowler saw one Chiffchaff at Kingham. 16th.—At Kingham he showed me Peewits’ nests with three and four eggs, and he had seen two Swallows in the morning. We could find no Chiffchaffs, but I saw a Wheatear from the train on this side of Chipping Norton. 17th.—A Cuckoo flew over the garden. 18th.—The result of a long round in search of migrants was one Swallow seen. 19th.—Quite hot in the sun. Found one Chiffchaff. In spite of constant searches in all the most likely spots, this is the first I have seen. Tree-Pipit arrived. Hedges just showing green in places. 20th.—Redstart. Crow and two Magpies sitting. 22nd.—Hot day. Many butterflies; several Brimstones and Small Tortoishells, one Peacock, and a Small Garden White. 23rd.—Willow-Wren and Blackcap. Away from home until the 26th. 27th.—Cuckoo noisy. 28th.—Mr. A. Holte Macpherson and I noticed Ray’s Wag- tail, Lesser Whitethroat, Whinchat, Sand-Martin, and White- throat, but did not hear a Chiffchaff during a long walk in beautiful sunny weather. Near the village we saw a very fine example of the large race of the Wheatear. It was at one time close to a cock Chaffinch, than which it was clearly a consider- ably larger bird. 29th.— We noticed a Nightingale in Milcomb gorse, and another near Broughton Grange; also the Grasshopper- Warbler, House-Martin, and Sedge-Warbler. Also a Ring: Ouzel (quite a rarity here) between here and Broughton. May lIst.—Mr. J. Whitaker was much interested in the great number of Lesser Whitethroats we noticed when driving into Warwickshire. We heard several Nightingales by the roadside, Only saw one Crested Grebe on Clattercote Reservoir. Little Grebe chattering. 3rd.—Received news from Mr. Darbey of a Golden Oriole Zool. 4th ser. vol. VII., January, 1903. c 18 THE ZOOLOGIST. (a fine male) shot in an orchard at Southrop, near Letchlade, which is only just over our county borders, on the 23rd April. 5th.—A Great Tit has eleven eggs in a nest in one of my boxes; the eggs were piled up to-day. 6th.—Nightingale reported as heard in our paddock-walk (an old haunt, long deserted, during the years this bird became un- accountably rare in this district) a week ago. Swift appeared. 7th. Among some young Rooks shot to-day two had some yellowish white on their bills, and one had a little white on the chin. A Mistle-Thrush has built a nest in a pear-tree trained like a pergola across the kitchen-garden path, seven feet from the ground. To match the green leaves of the pear-tree, the nest is formed externally almost entirely of green moss. There is a very little mud in the walls, and a few bits of haulm and a bit of tape. The nest is very inconspicuous, but my attention was drawn to it by seeing several bits of green moss dropped on the path. The nest had one egg in it to-day. I left home the next day, and on my return found it had been deserted. 8th.—Mr. Henry Blea, who keeps the ‘ White Lion’ inn here, happened this morning to see a case containing a pair of Stone Curlews with young which I have in the hall. He then told me that thirty or forty years ago he lived on a farm near Heythrop, -and in those days the ‘‘Curloo ” (as this bird is called in Oxford- shire) frequented Cold Harbour and Showell farms. These farms are at an elevation of about 600 ft. above the sea, and between them the land rises to over 700 ft. The soil is the stony “‘ stone- brash,” and the country very open and bleak. Mr. Blea said there were never to his knowledge more than one or two pairs of Curloos there each year. He described the open country they frequented, the pace they ran, their habit of getting up quietly and stealing away, their two eggs laid on the bare ground, and the great difficulty he had in finding the two or three lots of eggs he ever found. I may here mention that two eggs of this species, taken at Ipsden on the Chilterns about the year 1887, have come into my possession. They are the only Oxfordshire examples of these eggs I have seen. 12th.—News from Mr. Darbey of a Ring-Ouzel shot at Bletch- ington on or about the 4th inst. June 8rd.—Examined a Pied Woodpecker and a Hawfinch, ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 19 shot at Wroxton this spring. Heard and saw the Nightingale in the paddock-walk, which has been there now for a month. 6th.—Mistle-Thrush singing well this evening. 7th.—Again singing. 8th.—Nightingale reported as unusually common at Great Tew and South Newington Hill. 9th.—Heard Wood-Wren in a mixed plantation of beech and some oak at Tadmarton Camp. Two Nightingales there this spring. Mistle-Thrush singing. 10th.—Some young Starlings in a box against the wall, only five feet from the ground. Mistle-Thrush sang well. 13th.—Bullfinch several times lately close to the house, I believe in consequence of the bird-cherry having much fruit on it this year. Saw one in the tree the next day. 15th, 16th, and 17th.—Mistle-Thrush still singing. 18th.—'I'wo pairs of Nightingales in the cover at South New- ington were very noisy with the “‘sleet’”’ and the Edible Frog- like “ turrr.” 24th.—A Barred Woodpecker noisy and excited all day in my neighbour’s walnut-tree, and in trees in my garden. Possibly had young just out of the nest. July 4th.— Mr. Fowler told me of one nest of the Marsh- Warbler, the young in which were hatched this morning. He believed a second pair had a nest. 14th.—Saw a pair of Red-backed Shrikes on the telegraph- wires below the Lessor Farm, Milcomb, a favourite haunt with these birds, which are scarce and local with us. 17th.—A covey of young Partridges could fly. 19th.—Very hot; 90° in the shade, 76° at 9 p.m. Swifts revelling in the hot evening. 24th.—Severe drought continues. 25th.—The hottest day I ever experienced in England ; 913° in the shade. A fresh south wind and the very dry air made walking possible. The air at night was of the ‘ well-cooked”’ kind that one knows in the South. Swifts delight in this weather, and scream loudly. 29th.—A good rain at last. August lst.—A soaking rain. A good deal of rain after this, and stormy weather for some days. 20 THE ZOOLUGISY. 15th.—Swifts numerous and noisy. 17th.—Some Swifts. 18th.—None seen. 31st.—Flock of fourteen Mistle-Thrushes. September Ist.— Many old Partridges without any young brood. Three Landrails killed. Saw a Wheatear (migrant). 4th.—Red-legged Partridges are more numerous than ever this year. I have seen two and a half and three brace killed in a day, a thing unheard of about here ten years ago. 5th.—A big flock of Peewits about the arable land. There are a few Clouded Yellow Butterflies about this year, and I have taken one Pale Clouded Yellow, the only one I ever saw in this district. 7th.—Five brace of young and one old Red-legged Partridge formed part of our bag at Milcomb to-day. Heard of four Land- rails bagged near Rollwright a few days ago. 10th.—A young Cuckoo shot to-day in my presence at Mil- comb was changing its plumage. 12th.—Many Mistle-Thrushes in straggling flocks. 21st.—A few Meadow-Pipits, the first noticed. 24th.—Many in the swedes. ° 27th.—Chiffchaff in song. October 3rd.—Flock of about a score of Pied Wagtails; many Meadow-Pipits. 8th.—Hedge-Sparrow singing for some days lately. 9th.—Very warm ; 70° in the shade. 11th.—News from Mr. Bartlett that he had stuffed for a lady’s hat an adult Lesser Tern picked up at Croperdy a month ago. 19th.—Humming-bird Hawk Moth hovering over a. bed of Michaelmas daisies about 10 a.m. Temperature up to 50° in the day. 24th.—Song-Thrushes singing fairly well. 26th.—News from Mr. Darbey of a Buzzard (of the dark type) trapped at Wytham on the 24th, and of a Death’s-head Moth caught close to Carfax Church, Oxford, on the 16th. This is a very fine specimen, and is now in my possession. 28th.—Some Redwings and Fieldfares. November lst.—Examined a Partridge which was seen on October 25th, at breakfast-time, to drop down into a narrow ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 21 enclosed courtyard at the back of a birdstuffer's house in the High Street, Banbury. It was uninjured, but was easily caught. I also obtained the skin of an albino Greenfinch, killed near Oxford on or about the 2nd September. This specimen is white, tinged with yellow more or less all over, except on the end of the quill-feathers. The yellow is brightest on the shoulders and the edges of the primaries and wing-quills, where an ordinary bird has the brightest colours. Irides pink. Bill perhaps rather paler than usual; the legs and feet appear to have been pale flesh-colour, claws very pale. 8th.—News from Mr. Surman of a Dunlin shot at some clay-pits at Summertown on the 3rd. 10th.—Red Admiral Butterfly in the garden. 12th.—A Peregrine Falcon shot at Boarstall Decoy to-day, recorded in the ‘ Oxford Times.’ 16th.—News from Mr. Surman of a Green Sandpiper shot at Sandford-on-Thames on the 8th, and a Great Crested Grebe on Port Meadow stream on the 12th. 22nd.—News from Mr. Fowler of an unusual number of Red- polls in the birch-trees in the parks at Oxford, and that on the previous day he saw a Water-Rail in a ditch at Kingham. 23rd.—Song-Thrushes sing well. 24th.—Singing well about 8 a.m. in a cold thick fog. Many Bullfinches about. The fruit crop this year has been exception- ally heavy. To say nothing of garden fruits, the crop of beech- mast and acorns has been remarkable, in the case of the latter With disastrous effects on the cattle in the fields where there are oak-trees, although sheep and pigs have done well and not suf- fered. The hedge-fruit is quite a sight—crabs, sloes (a very heavy crop), blackberries, &c.—while the haws redden the big hedges. 26th.—Song-Thrushes now singing grandly. Yesterday, and this morning between 7 and 8 a.m., it was, as an old farmer remarked, ‘‘ quite a charm.” 28th.—News from Mr. Darbey of another Peregrine Falcon (a bird of the year) shot at Boarstall yesterday. 30th.—Bullfinches chanting three double notes. During a day’s shooting about Milcomb I met with Goldfinches three times. One bird sang, but poorly. December 6th.—Hxamined at Mr. Bartlett’s a well-pied 22 THE ZO0O0LOGIST. Blackbird. To judge from the plumage it was a female, and an old one, as it had a dull orange bill. 7th.—Very mild; 50°. In the afternoon a Blackbird sang fairly well. I had never previously heard one sing in December. 8th.—The ‘ Field’ of this date contains a notice by “F.M.C.” that a Grey Crow was shot at Henley-on-Thames on the 8th October, and a Puffin was picked up alive but exhausted on the 20th November. 12th.—Blackbird sang a little in a low tone; 52°, with a grey sky. 138th.—Examined, at Mr. Bartlett’s, a beautiful drake Shoveler in the flesh, which had been shot on a pond at Wroxton. It was with another “ less brightly coloured.”’ This is a rare Duck in the north of the county. 20th.—Winter aconite flowering. 22nd.—Blackbird sang for some time in the afternoon. Song perfect, but rather low in tone. Temperature at the time 38°; air still. 27th.—Furious gale at night, and much rain. 28th.—Very rough stormy weather. While waiting for a Partridge-drive near Hook Norton, I counted eight Magpies as they came over a ridge of high ground in front of the guns. 29th.—Galanthus elwesi in bloom. 30th.—Rained all day and poured all nigh with a furious gale from the north. 3lst.— The gale gradually subsided, having done much damage. It knocked several conifers here out of the straight. The floods this morning are the biggest we have had for thirteen years. Some cottages with a foot of water inthem. At Wickham Mill, on the Sorbrook, the occupier, who was born there, and has lived there all his life, being now fifty-seven, said the flood to-day was the highest he had known, and came up to the mill- door. Twenty years ago this would have meant flooded meadows for weeks, and hundreds of wildfowl; but now, with so much drainage, floods, although more frequent, run off very quickly. (To be continued. NOTES AND QUERIES. AVES. Blackbird Laying on the Ground.—On April 26th, in the grounds of a friend at Claygate, I was shown a nest with four eggs of the Blackbird (Turdus merula) on the ground. The nest, so called, con- sisted simply of a hollow without any lining whatever scraped amongst the fallen pine-needles and trailing ivy in a shrubbery, the eggs being laid on the bare ground. They were evidently deserted when I saw them, but my friend’s son told me he had put the old bird off the eggs, and the gardener also informed me he had twice seen it brooding on them. About a week previous to the discovery of the eggs my friend had pulled outa new empty nest of a Blackbird from a cypress close by, and I think it probable the owner, not having time to build a new one, laid her eggs on the ground a yard or two away from their destroyed intended home.—Roserr H. Reap (7, South Parade, Bedford Park, W.) British Examples of the White-spotted Bluethroat.—Referring to the note of Mr. Nicoll on this subject in ‘ The Zoologist’ for December last (p. 464), may I be allowed to state that the first British-killed example of the White-spotted Bluethroat was obtained at Scarborough, and described by the Rev. J. G. Tuck (Zool. June, 1876, p. 4956, and ‘ Field,’ May 6th, 1876).—T. H. Neuson (The Cliffe, Redcar). The Status of the Goldfinch (Carduelis elegans) in Britain. — _ Essex.—Resident, local, not abundant ; partly migratory ; decreas- ing (Miller Christy, 1890). Wiltshire. — Kiverybody knows: never so abundant as to beget familiarity : rapidly diminishing in numbers. Very rare in North Wilts (Canon Goddard). Not seen one for several years (Rev. A. C. Smith, 1887). Devon.—Resident ; formerly numerous; now scarce in most locali- ties, except in autumn breeds. Decrease enlarged upon. A rare event to see an example of this once abundant bird (Rev. M. A. Mathew, 1892). Parfitt (1876) has it ‘frequent in orchards through- out the county.” 24 THRE ZOOLOGIST. Dorset.—In an imperfect copy I have of Mansel-Pleydell’s ‘ Orni- thology, &c., of Dorset,’ he does not include it amongst his rarer birds of the county in 1875. But about 1887, in his complete work, — ‘The Birds of Dorsetshire,’ he has it resident; more numerous since the Bird Acts (Wild Birds’ Protection Act) passed. Herefordshire.—D. Henry Graves Bull, in 1888 (‘ Notes on Birds of Herefordshire’). Fairly plentiful and generally distributed. Buckingham.—Rev. B. Binges (1855) merely mentions it in his List, p. 103. Devon.—Pidsley, in 1890. Resident, partly migratory ; formerly numerous, but of late years a scarce bird. Decrease. Sussex.—Borrer, 1891. Formerly very common, now comparatively rare; near Bryston not one hundred may now be seen, even at the most favourable time of the year. Diminution of the species. Somerset.—Cecil Smith, in 1869. Not very uncommon ; resident. Cornwall.—Hearle Rodd, in 1880. Not a scarce bird in Cornwall ; local. Wilts—Im Thurn in 1869. 0. Derbyshire.—Myr. Whitlock, in 1898. Principally known as a local autumn visitor. A few pairs breed in the south of the county, but only in very limited numbers. Formerly far more common. Practi- cally unknown in some districts. In 1836 abundant, in 1863 still common at Burton-on-Trent. In the Peak district appears to be of uncertain occurrence, evenin September. Partial extermination. Northampton.—Lord Lilford, 1880-88. Decidedly less common, Decrease accounted for principally by the careful field-weeding of recent years, and birdcatchers. East Kent.— Mr. Dowker, in 1889. Moderately common; not common of late. Pembroke. —M. A. Mathew, in 1894. Common, resident ; still about. Six nests in his grounds one summer. Nottingham:-—Sterland and Whitaker, in 1879. Common in parts. Suffolk.—Babington. Generally distributed; not uncommon at Gazely, but rare at Livermore. Less abundant than formerly. Oxford.—Aplin, in 1889. Resident, but also migratory ; became exceedingly scarce, but increased again in last three or four years. Have kept up numbers in more secluded parts. 2 Durham.—Prentis in 1894, in his ‘ Notes on the Birds of Rain- ham.’ I do not often see a Goldfinch in the course of a year. London.—Mr. Swann, in his ‘ Birds of London,’ in 1893. Visitor on migration; decidedly rare as a nesting species. At Stratford ** steadily on the increase ” NOTES AND QUERIES. 26 London.—Hudson, in 1898; 0. Pigott, in 1892; 0. Norfolk.-—Stevenson, in 1866. By no means uncommon through- out the year. Bueks and Berks.—Clark Kennedy, in 1868. Generally distributed in the two counties. Greatly decreased during the last ten years. More numerous in spring and autumn. West Cheshire, Denbigh, and Flint.—Mr. Dobie, in 1893. Resident and generally distributed, but not common in West Cheshire. In Wirral a scarce resident; a good many in autumn. Not common at Burton (West Cheshire). Common in Wales. Stafford.—Mr. McAldowie, in 1898. Partly migratory; very rare in summer, but more numerous in winter. Breeds in the north of the county, but is very rare. Gradually becoming extinct in Stafford, according to Mr. Yates. Norwood district, Surrey. — My. Aldridge writes :— ‘“‘ Becoming scarcer every year. Remorselessly hunted down. Certainly rare.”’ Yorkshire.—‘ Ackworth Birds.’ Mr. Arundel, in 1898. Previous to 1860 was plentiful, since then diminished in numbers, and has become scarce. Thinks it is still resident. The diminution towards extinction has been going on over the whole of Britain, and quotes J. H. Harting to the same effect, and Mr. Howard Saunders, who says it has ‘‘ undoubtedly decreased in numbers during the last half-century ”’ (‘ Manual,’ p. 173). Mr. Howard Saunders, however, records (1898) also that the Wild Birds’ Protection Act has operated in its favour during the past twelve years; and adds, ‘‘ perhaps (also) agricultural depression.” Lancashire.—Mitchell, in 1885, does not mention it. Rutland. —Mr. Montagu Browne, in 1889, has it resident, but sparsely distributed. Hiven in Harley’s time it was ‘“ increasingly rare.” Northumberland.—Hancock, in 1874, had only seen it on two or three occasions. Casual visitant. Lakeland.—Rev. H. A. Macpherson, in 1892. Thirty years before it was comparatively common, and nested freely from the Solway to the shores of Morecambe Bay, and even in the heart of the Lake District. Present stronghold is in the Eden Valley. Not met with on the south-eastern border, but stated to be slightly increasing at Under- barrow. ‘‘ Uniformly a very scarce bird.”’ Sherwood Forest. — Sterland, in 1869. ‘One of our commonest song-birds’’ (p.117). [No thought apparently of any decrease then— eee D.| 26 THE ZO0O0OLOGIST. Birds of the Derwent Valley.—Mr. Robson, in 1896. * Casual visitant,’’ and of doubtful occurrence in the rest of the county in summer. [Evidently rare—J. H. B.] Bird Life of the Borders. — Abel Chapman, in 1888. Not men- tioned in index. Cumberland.—Rev. H. A. Macpherson and W. Duckworth, in 1886 (see also Lakeland, 1892). Locally resident; generally decreased of late years, though still numerous in the Eden Valley. A few pairs breed sporadically in the north of the county. Very absent still in Eden Valley. —J.A. Harvir-Brown (Dunipace, Larbert, Stirlingshire, N.B.). [Mr. Harvie-Brown, in a letter accompanying the above interesting excerpts, expresses his wish that our contributors might bring the status of the bird up to date, viz. to the end of last year. Any notes we may receive on the subject will be reserved for some completeness with other records, and then published together in a condensed form.— Kp. ] Lesser Redpoll nesting in Middlesex.—As there appear to be very few records of the nesting of Linota rufescens in Middlesex, I may men- tion that on June 28th last year I found a nest near Pinner. It was built in a furze-bush, and contained five eggs. As usual with nests of this species, it was lined with, and constructed very largely of, down from willow-catkins, with some bents and a few horsehairs.—RoseErt H. Reap (7, South Parade, Bedford Park, W.). A Habit of the Lesser Redpoll (Linota rufescens)—While look- ing through ‘ The Zoologist’ for 1901, I noticed, on p. 316, an account of the rather mysterious disappearance of the eggs and lining of a Redpoll’s nest. The writer of the note did not think the nest had been robbed, but came to the following conclusion :—‘‘ Mayhap the old birds may have removed it (7. e. the lining) to line a new nest sub- sequently to the eggs being taken from the old one.” In reference to this remark, my experience with two pairs of Redpolls which I found breeding near Oxford a few years ago may be interesting. The follow- ing is a condensed account taken from my note-books :—On May 16th, 1898, a Lesser Redpoll’s nest, which I had found a few days previously, contained three eggs. I took two of these, and substituted a Linnet’s egg. On visiting the nest a few days later I saw the hen bird in the tree with some dry grass or roots in her bill, and on examining the nest I found that it had been considerably pulled about, and that both eggs had disappeared. A few days later nothing was left of the nest but its foundation, though the birds remained in the neighbourhood, as I NOTHS AND QUERIES. 27 saw them frequently on subsequent occasions, and I feel sure they were building a new nest out of the materials of the old one, although a careful search failed to discover it. About the 24th of May, not far from the spot where the first pair of Redpolls were breeding, I noticed a small nest in a young beech- tree, and on climbing to it I found it was a Redpoll’s nest, which appeared to have been disturbed, and which had lost some of its lining. IT noticed that the tree had been climbed, so the nest had evidently been robbed. On May 28th I again visited the same spot, and found that the nest had almost entirely disappeared—in fact, only a foundation was left—and I found among the topmost branches of a sallow-bush, only a few yards from the beech-tree, a new Redpoll’s nest just ready for eggs. On May 80th this nest contained one egg. We have here instances to show that the Lesser Redpoll will not tolerate any interference with her nest and eggs. I was very careful to disturb the first pair mentioned above as little as possible, and removed the two eggs with a teaspoon. The evidence from these three cases also goes to prove that this species, when disturbed in nesting operations, will remove the materials from the spot which has been dis- covered, and use them in forming a new home. What becomes of the eggs is less clear, but I suppose it is possible that they are transferred also. If I could have found the new nest of my first pair mentioned above, and it had contained the Linnet’s egg, the mystery would have been solved. In ‘ The Zoologist’ for 1894, on p. 228, is a note on the breeding of the Lesser Redpoll, and it appears very possible that the birds acted in the same way as the three pairs already mentioned. It would be very interesting to hear the experience of other field naturalists on this presumed habit of the Lesser Redpoll. Is it a common habit among birds? I have studied birds out of doors as long as I can remember, but cannot recollect having observed a parallel case. It requires, however, very careful observation to prove that the original makers of the nest are removing it to a safer place, and that it is not any chance bird on the look-out for materials which has destroyed the deserted nest.—F’, L. Buarawayrt (Lincoln). Migration of Jays.—It is interesting that a very noticeable increase in the number of Jays should have been observed in Hants and Dorset, as a similar increase occurred in this part of Sussex. Garrulus glan- darius is always fairly well represented in this district, but an unusual number put in an appearance during the first week in October, an influx which extended well into November, since when I have only 28 THE ZOOLOGIST observed the usual number. The behaviour of these birds differed somewhat from that generally observable in the species; they were mostly single birds, not so easily alarmed, and frequented trees in open situations to an extent not usual with the Jay.— Rosperr Morris (‘‘Fernhurst,” Uckfield, Sussex). Wirs reference to the note on this subject (Zool. 1902, p. 484), Mr. Corbin may be interested to know that we have had more Jays than usnal about here last autumn. Very few breed in this immediate neighbourhood, but more visit us every autumn. Last year I noted in my diary that there were a good many about on the 8th October, and on the 29th, that there were Jays all about, and ‘clearly a migration.” On the 4th November I-saw several on the side of the parish where I only occasionally see Jays, and they were about there and very noisy on the 2nd December. We have not many acorns this year.—O. V. Artin (Bloxham, Oxon). Variety in Domestic Geese. —The tenant of my Rectory Farm has lately sublet some of his fields to a poulterer, who turned down more than a thousand Geese on them, Though Goose-farming on a large scale is an ancient industry in Kast Anglia, it is a novelty here; so I went down to see the birds, and was surprised to notice that many of them were clearly of Bean-Goose descent, having the brown plumage of that species, with the black and yellow beak ending with a black nail. The Geese, I was told, were not bred in England, but brought over when young from Holland; and it seems pretty clear that in that country Bean-Geese, either captured in nets or winged birds, must have bred freely in confinement with ordinary Geese. I am not aware that any similar instance has been recorded.—Jutian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk). Wild Swans at Rainworth.—On Nov. 29th I was standing at the front door, when I heard notes of birds, and on looking up I saw, at a great height, a flight of what I thought were Wild Geese. I at once saw they meant to settle on the lake below the house, which is a beautiful piece of water in sight of a river, and covering about twenty-five acres. After two or three flights round they came against a hill covered with firs, and I at once saw they were Swans. ‘There were twenty-one of them, six cygnets, and the rest pure white. After a great deal of flying round in great circles they settled, and, as I wanted a Notts-killed speci- men, my son, after a talk, decided to take his rifle. He had an easy stalk behind banks of rhododendrons, and got within fifty yards of seven. when, picking out the largest, he sent a ball through him. The rest rose With great flappings, and two more were missed. They now were well NOTES AND QUERIES. 29 on wing, and about forty yards high, when he senta ball right through one, which fell with a great splash in the lake, and, with loud cries, the remainder winged their flight away. On getting them, we found they were Bewick’s Swans—a fine male, weighing 12 lb. and a cygnet. We were very pleased with ourselves, and soon a big case will be added to this collection. On Tuesday, Dec. 23rd, when Pike-fishing on lake at Welbeck Abbey, six Swans flew over the boat, but as there are any quantity of Mute Swans on this lake, I did not take much notice, till I heard a loud ‘‘ whoop”; they settled near about thirty tame ones, and began to feed, now and again giving the loud cry “‘whoop whoop.” They did not mix with other Swans, but kept a short way from them. When I left off fishing I walked up lake-side, and they only swam about three hundred yards away from bank. They were Whoopers, five mature and one cygnet. I noticed they looked much bigger than Bewick, which they are, and sat higher on water. The lake was let down to perhaps fifty acres, and on this were hundreds of Duck—quite five hundred Tufted Duck, besides many Pochards and several hundred Common Duck. I also saw a pair of Pintail. It was sreat luck to see both species of Wild Swans on the water, and in an inland county, within a month, and a treat I most thoroughly enjoyed. I have never seen Wild Swans on the water before, and only twice on wing in this county.—J. Wurraxer (Rainworth Lodge, Notts). Fork-tailed Petrel in Somerset.—A specimen of the Fork-tailed Petrel (Cymochorea leucorrhoa) was forwarded in the flesh a few days ago by my brother from Cadbury, in Somersetshire. It was picked up on Nov. 30th by his shepherd in one of the fields in an exhausted con- dition, and died soon after being brought into the house. As Cadbury is some twenty-five miles from the nearest point on the coast, the bird had doubtless been blown inland by the recent heavy gales, but whether from the Bristol or English Channel is uncertain, most probably, however, the former.—Rosert H. Reap (7, South Parade, Bedford Park, W.). Notes from Lincolnshire.—I have lately seen the following birds which have been sent for preservation to Mr. Nash, the local bird- stuffer :—A buff variety of the Redwing (Turdus iliacus), shot on Dec. 11th near Brauston. The bird, which is a male, is chiefly of a pale buff-colonr, shading off almost to white on the tail-feathers, and the freckles on the breast are of the same pale colour. The flanks are of the usual rich chestnut-red, which contrasts strongly with the rest of the plumage. An adnlt male Bittern (Botaurus stellaris was shot on 30 THE ZOOLOGIST. Dec. 1st near Washingborough, a few miles out of Lincoln ; and about Dec. 14th an immature female Black-throated Diver (Colymbus arcticus) was shot on the coast near Boston. On or about Nov. 27th a male Great Shearwater (Puffinus major) was shot not far from the mouth of the River Welland. This seems an unusually late date for the occur- rence of this species.—F’. L. Buarawayr (Lincoln). REPTILIA. Notes on the Pine-Snake in Confinement.—This Snake (Coluber melanoleucus), a native of North America, grows to a length of about seven feet. It is very beautifully marked, and has very often—rare in Snakes—a perfectly white throat, although the greater part of the under surface is mottled with salmon-pink. The colour above is whitish, with large dark brown spots edged with black; the scales on the back are keeled, though on the sides they are quite flat, and there are also along the sides a number of smaller dark brown spots. The specimen which I possess was imported about six months ago, and is now very tame and gentle, and never attempts to bite. Its food con- sists almost entirely of young mice, and occasionally a small rat; but it greatly prefers the first-named prey. This Snake seems to possess elasticity of the jaws in a much lesser degree than other Snakes. A young Boa which I have at the present time, about two feet long, will take a half-grown rat with comparative ease, but the Pine-Snake, measuring six feet, has often failed to swallow a rat of the same size. My specimen always makes an attempt to constrict its prey, but generally unsuccessfully ; this is doubtless due to the difference in size between the Snake and its prey. This species has the character of being somewhat of a cannibal, but I cannot corroborate this by my own experience, though a friend who kept two Grass-Snakes (7. natria) with a C. melanoleucus found one morning the two smaller Snakes dead, with the appearance of having been crushed. My specimen has only cast once since I had it, the whole process taking some time. The Pine-Snake is very hardy, mine being kept at from 55° to 60°, but even if kept below this temperature it still remains quite lively. It can also give a very loud hiss. This Snake, both from my own experience and that of others, is a very suitable inmate for the vivarium, not only on account of its hardiness, but also by the ease with which it may be tamed.—B. J. Horton (305, Stratford Road, Sparbrook, Birmingham). NOTES AND QUERIES. 31 PISCHES. Occurrence of Box vulgaris on the Norfolk Coast.—In tne middle of December last (1902) a specimen of this fish was found dead on the beach near Cromer. It measured 9 in. in length and 22 in. in depth: Although the ‘‘ Bogue” has been met with several times on the south coast of England, I am not aware that it has hitherto been recorded for the Norfolk waters.—Tuos. SourHwett (Norwich). BEB D1 OG RA PUY: Mammals, Reptiles, and Amphibians of Suffolk.—Being engaged upon a short account of the above for the ‘ Victoria History of the Counties of England,’ I should be most grateful for the loan of any local lists, however imperfect and fragmentary. Any information bearing on the subject would be thankfully received. The Bats especi- ally seem to have received little attention, and my list is at present a very short one. Any well-authenticated records of the rarer species are greatly needed.—G. T. Rorz (Blaxhall, Tunstall, Suffolk). 32 THE LOOLOGIST. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. Index Animalium ; swe index nominum que ab a.pv. MDCCLVIII. generibus et speciebus animalium imposita sunt,” &e. A Caroto Davirs SHERBORN, contectus. Cambridge Uni- versity Press. In these pages (vol. v. p. 39), we drew attention to this great work, then in progress; the first volume is now before us, consisting of about 1250 pages, and containing some 60,000 referential entries. The objects of the work, as set forth in the preface, are ‘ (a) to provide zoologists with a complete list of all the generic and specific names that have been applied by authors to animals since Jan. Ist, 1758; (b) to give an exact date for each page quotation; (c) to give a quotation for each reference sufficiently exact to be intelligible alike to the specialist and to the layman.” How is it possible to review or write a general notice of this giant undertaking ?; how few can realize the value of what to an outsider will appear 60,000 bald references ?; and what still fewer readers can appraise the awful labour and bibliographical capacity that makes such a publication practicable? It is absolutely the life of a man surrendered to the cause of zoology in one of its most real, but certainly least popular aspects—assuredly not a usual method of to-day. And yet this is one of the most important zoological publications in recent years, it makes a mighty concordance for the use of specialists, and affords a vade mecum in zoological technics. In the present study of scientific bibliography we are often hindered by the proposed reforms in nomenclature by writers who correct their predecessors to-day and again themselves to-morrow, in fact the subject has been not less neglected by qualified students than obscured by a plague of commenting flies. We have now what we may call a rabbinical index to the scientific names proposed for animals, one that will be accepted as the last word on an abstruse and NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 38 dry subject to which most zoologists have frequently to refer, and one which all descriptive writers will care to have near them. We trust the author will complete his self-imposed task, and although the labour is prodigious, and the circulation of the published results only limited, he has the satisfaction of knowing that the volume—and we trust volumes—must reach the hands of those for whom it is designed, and long after we and our views are forgotten, it is likely that the zoologists of the future will often advise on this subject—*‘ consult Sherborn.” A Naturalist in Indian Seas, or Four Years with the Royal Indian Marine Survey Ship “‘ Investigator.” By A. Aucocx, M.B., LL.D., F.R.S. John Murray. Ir is more than thirty years since Collingwood published his ‘Rambles of a Naturalist on the Shores and Waters of the China Sea,’ the perusal of which we recall as we take up Dr. Alcock’s volume on a similar subject, pursued, however, under very different methods. For since the first date, the ‘‘ Challenger,” amongst other expeditions, has shown what can be done by deep-sea dredging, and the equipment of the ‘“ Investigator” is largely due to that impulse. Moreover, many biological facts and propositions in relation to animal life have been gained since Collingwood’s time, with which Dr. Alcock has illuminated his narrative. There is still one great unexplored area of this planet, and it is questionable whether mankind will ever have but a frag- mentary and inadequate knowledge of the fauna of oceanic abysses. The same gloomy depths, which many believe to shroud the remains of an Atlantis, must certainly contain animal life which a dredge is quite incapable to retrieve from the ocean floors. The sea has not yet given up her life! It is this mystery which, even taken alone, renders these pages of such surpassing interest to the zoologist, who, like Dante, “Turns to the perilous wide waste, and stands At gaze.” The cruises of the “Investigator” here recorded have been confined to the Bay of Bengal, with particular reference to the ool. 4th ser. vol. VII., January, 1903. D b4 THE 4O00LOGIST. Andaman and Laccadive Seas, where the dredge was freely used, | and its captures have provided notable illustrations for the volume. We are given much interesting information as to the > animal life on the Adaman and Coco Islands, while the book has focussed so much information on the oceanic fauna, that we do do not know where else to find such a readable introduction to: the whole subject. We have long expected to hear of the Shark interfering with peaceful dredging operations, and we read that. near False Point, “ our seine, which we used sometimes to lay. out as a drift-net, was, with its sinkers, weighing over 450 lbs., carried bodily away by an enormous Shark, round whose remains it was found some days afterwards, tied in a hundred knots, past all surgery.” On the beach of South Sentinel Islet, Dr. Alcock | was fortunate enough to witness the emergence of a brood of newly-hatched Turtles, ‘a swarm of little objects, looking like beetles, which all with one consent made for the sea.” | The illustrations are ample, and are examples of a very successful method compared with the whilom wood-block. Catalogue of the Library of the Zoological Society of London. (Fifth Edition.) Published by the Society. Tus publication is really a contribution to a knowledge of zoological bibliography. It contains the titles of about 11,000 different works now in the Society’s Library, exclusive of periodi- cals, which are scheduled in #n appendix. The Library, it is stated, now contains about 25,000 volumes. The catalogue has been prepared by the Society’s librarian, Mr. F. H. Waterhouse, with his usual care and accuracy, and he has made the catalogue of a library a welcome guest for the book-shelves of any zoologist. The points on which it may generally be consulted are: (1) date and localities of publication; (2) complete titles and full names of authors; (3) many good cross references; (4) useful annota- tions, or references to other writers and publications, as to dates of issue when separate parts have been published of works cata- logued; (5) references to the original channel of publication of works afterwards issued and distributed in separate form, &c. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 35 Index Zoologicus: an alphabetical list of names of genera and subgenera proposed for use in zoology as recorded in the ‘Zoological Record,’ 1880-1900; together with other names not included in the *Nomenclator Zoologicus’ of S. H. Scudder. Compiled by C. O. WaTrRuousgE, and edited by D. SHarp, M.A., F.R.S. Zoological Society, London, and Gurney & Jackson. WE have given the complete title of this publication, as it best explains the scope and reason of the work. Few descriptive zoologists are unconscious of what it means to provide a new generic title. ‘To find an applicable name previously unused, having reference to some peculiarity of a representative species, and rendered according to the canons of the Greek and Latin tongues, is not too easy. John Wesley is reportea to have said, in reference to musical hymnology, that the ‘‘ devil had secured all the best tunes.” In classificatory terminology it is practically certain that previous writers have appropriated all the best names, and consequently the need is urgent that we can refer easily to the generic jargon of our predecessors before adding to the awful list. Scudder, in 1882, gave us such a list to the close of the year 1879, and the present work not only supplements that, but also brings the record to the end of the year 1900. We thank Mr. Waterhouse for his conscientious labours in this dreary field. Monographie des Cynipides d'Europe et d’ Algérie. Par L’Abbé J.-J. Kigerrer. Paris: A. Hermann. Monographie des Mutillides d'Europe et d’ Algérie. Par ERNEST Anpre. Paris: A. Hermann. THESE two thick volumes form a considerable addition to our knowledge of the Palearctic Hymenoptera, and, both being descriptive of the same order of insects, may be best noticed together. The Cynipid@ are perhaps generally known as Gall-flies, though some are parasitfc on other insects. It was once supposed that the galls we all so frequently see on some trees were of purely vegetable origin, though now their true hymenopterous cause is known to most school-boys. The author of the first book under 36 THE ZOOLOGIST. notice has thoroughly discussed the bionomics of these interest- ing insects, and has produced a work which is very much more than a mere description of species, and one which will afford much valuable information to the botanist as well as the ento- mologist. L’Abbe Kieffer has treated his subject very thoroughly, and has provided good bibliographical references to what other workers have written on the subject. The volume is enriched with twenty-seven plates, and may be described as a book for all interested in galls and Gall-flies. Mon. André’s volume is devoted to a large subfamily of fossorial Hymenoptera, more or less parasitic in habits, and exhibiting a marked dissimilarity between the sexes. It thus appeals to entomologists as a rule, and to hymenopterists in particular. ‘T'o those zoologists, few indeed !, who follow Darwin and Wallace—most frequently at a distance—in an encyclopedic or universal survey of the science, such a book escapes from the restricted study of the specialist, and becomes material for great generalizations. This is not the purpose, but is probably the true salvation of a monograph, and marks its general canoniza- tion. To know everything about one subject, and a little about all, is perhaps the only possibility of scholarship, and is too frequently the despair of a zoologist. Mon. André’s book is a good brick for such an edifice, and is distinctly a treatise which will be studied by the specialist. (3Tan) EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. Tue ‘ Zoological Record’ for 1901, edited by Dr. David Sharp, F.R.S., &c., was published towards the end of the year 1902. It forms a bulky volume, and is the best evidence we have of zoological enterprise and industry. The vast growth in zoological publication is shown by a paragraph in the preface. In 1871 the list of periodicals inserted by Professor Newton numbered 201, and occupied less than six pages, whilst in the volume for 1901 upwards of 1000 are enumerated, and account for 52 pages. The number of new generic names registered in 1870 was a little more than 700; for 1901 no fewer than 2102 are recorded. The numbers of papers published relating to different Orders give some idea of the present trend in zoology :— TITLES. Mammalia .... me a 558 «=. | o0l Aves... aN ane ae wie) ... 803 Reptilia and Batrachia ae si cng), 2450) Pisces ... Bi oe ae Aan ... 244 . Mollusca aes US ek aaa we Se OLD Brachiopoda ... tee te HG ee OS Crustacea oie es che wv. = 268 Arachnida... ee ee ire Soniye Ai Insecta wae ae AGE ous .. 1514 Dr. Sharp has made one reform in his subject-index for which we’ are deeply grateful. The word ‘‘mimicry” once denoted a philosophical conception ; a few enthusiastic writers seem determined that this shall be no longer possible. The Editor of the ‘ Zoological Record’ prefers the use of the word ‘‘ resemblance.”’ Se We have received a reprint from the ‘Transactions of the Hull Scientific and Field Naturalists’ Club, of a paper entitled ‘‘ The Birds of Bempton Cliffs,” by HK. W. Wade. This is a beautifully illustrated brochure relating to the famed chalk cliffs of the Hast Riding, the birds found there, and the adventurous men who pursue the “ dreadful trade” of egg-collecting from the face of the cliffs. It can be purchased separately at a small cost. 38 THE ZOOLOGIST. Our well-known contributor. Mr. Robert Service, of Maxwelltown, Dumfries, has sent us a revised copy of his ‘‘ Vertebrate Zoology of Kirkcudbrightshire,”” reprinted from Maxwell’s Guide-Book to the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. As the author remarks—‘ Probably there is no other tract of similar extent in the British Islands wherein may be found so rich an assemblage of vertebrate animals as there is in Kirkeudbrightshire.”” To a zoological visitor this publication is a necessity, and, what is more, an exhaustive and trustworthy acquisition. Ar the Annual Meeting of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, held at Hull on Wednesday, the 10th December, Mr. W. Denison Roebuck, F.L.8., was presented with a handsome testimonial in recognition of his past services as Secretary of the Union, and Editor of the ‘Naturalist.’ The presentation took the form ofa beautifully illuminated address, in book form, and a clock and bronzes. References were made by many speakers to the ability with which Mr. Roebuck had worked in the interests of the Union. The new Secretary is Mr. T. Sheppard, F.G.S., of the Municipal Museum, Hull, and the ‘ Naturalist’ will in future be edited by Mr. Sheppard and Mr. T. W. Woodhead, F.L.S., of Huddersfield. The President for 1903 is Mr. Roebuck. Tre following is the latest contribution to the tale of the great Sea Serpent ?—narratives which we propose to regularly chronicle, without comment, for future comparison and digest. Extract from the log of the second officer of the s.s. Fort Salisbury :— October 28, 1902, 3.5 a.m.—Dark object, with long, luminous trailing wake, thrown in relief by a phosphorescent sea, seen ahead, a little on starboard bow. Look-out reported two masthead lights ahead. These two lights, almost as bright as a steamer’s lights, appeared to shine, from two points in line on the upper surface of the dark mass. Con- cluded dark mass was a whale, and lights phosphorescent. On drawing nearer, dark mass and lights sank below the surface. Prepared to examine the wake in passing with binoculars. Passed about forty to fifty yards on port side of wake, and discovered it was the scaled back of some huge monster slowly disappearing below the surface. Darkness of the night prevented determining its exact nature, but scales of apparently 1 ft. diameter, and dotted in places with barnacle growth, were plainly discernible. The breadth of the body showing above water tapered from about 30 ft. close abaft, where the dark mass had appeared to about 5 ft. at the extreme end visible. Length roughly HDITORIAL GLHANINGS. 39 about 500 ft. to 600 ft. Concluded that the dark mass first seen must have been the creature’s head. The swirl caused by the monster’s progress could be distinctly heard, and a strong odour like that of a low-tide beach on a summer day pervaded the air. Twice along its length the disturbance of the water and a broadening of the surrounding belt of phosphorus indicated the presence of huge fins in motion below the surface. The wet, shiny back of the monster was dotted with twinkling phosphorescent lights, and was encircled with a band of white phosphorescent sea. Such are the bare facts of the passing of the Sea Serpent in latitude 5 deg. 31 min. S8., longitude 4 deg. 42 min. W., as seen by myself, being officer of the watch, and by the helmsman and look-out man.—A. H. Raymer, Second Officer. Mr. 8. G. Stephens (master of the Fort Salisbury) writes in reference to Mr. Raymer’s narrative: ‘‘I can only say that he is very earnest on the subject, and certainly has, together with look-out and helmsman, seen something in the water of a huge nature as specified.” —Daily Mail. THe development among animals, and especially among birds, of purely ornamental wind-bags, used as adjuncts in courtship, forms the theme of an article in ‘Knowledge’ for January, by Mr. W. P. Pycraft, who writes:—‘‘ These wind-bags, which, almost without exception, may be inflated and deflated at the will ot the animal, differ much in the nature of their origin. . . . Take the Common Pigeon, for example. Could anything appear more silly than the strutting, bowing, and cooing of the cock aided by this very practice of filling his gullet with intoxicating draughts of the morning air, the which swell his neck to unduly large proportions, and apparently, on this account, make him so much the more fascinating? With the Pigeon tribe, no special receptacle is provided for the indrawn air. . . . The present greatness of the crop, we would point out, is due not so much to the efforts of the prancing bird as to the care and selection of the breeder. . A still more remarkable gullet pouch is that of the Frigate-Bird of the Tropics. Bare externally, of a vivid scarlet colour, and capable of being inflated till it is nearly as large as the rest of the body, this pouch is an invaluable asset to its possessor when seeking a mate. For here, as elsewhere, the successful suitor is he who makes the most of his peculiar charms; the prize falling to him who is able to display the biggest and most brilliantly coloured pouch. Only the inales wear this ornament, which is retained only during the breeding season. At this time a lively competition appears to take place, a 40 THE ZOOLOGIST. dozen or so of these birds crowding together in a tree, and greeting the approach of their prospective mates with inflated pouches and drooping wings, accompanied by a peculiar apology for a song, de- scribed as a sort of ‘ wow-wow-wow-wow, and a noise resembling the sound of castanets, which is made by a violent chattering of the horny beak. The pouch of the Frigate-Bird is formed by the upper end of the gullet, and appears to be closed behind by a peculiar arrangement of muscular fibres to form what is known as a sphincter muscle. These muscles close up the tube of the windpipe much as the mouth of a bag is closed by means of a double string.” Mr. J. L. Bonuorte, in “ Field Notes on some Bahama Birds,” published in the January issue of the ‘ Avicultural Magazine,’ has given a good illustration and some interesting notes on the nesting of the Flamingo in those islands. Tue last November issue of the ‘ Irish Naturalist’ is devoted to a special report of the recent meeting of the British Association at Belfast. Tue following excerpt is from an article by Cary Coles in the ‘Farmer and Stockbreeder Year Book for 1903’ :— ** As a proof of the hardihood and prolificness of Hampshire Downs, I will give the result of the Shepherd’s Prize Competition of the Hampshire Down Sheep Breeders’ Association for 1902 :—Dee. 1st: 56 flocks, containing 26,785 ewes in the usual proportion of mixed ages, were entered, and on May 4th the decrease by death or sale 2°34 per cent. only, and the increase of lambs 116°82 per cent. on the ewes entered Dec. 1st, 1901. The results from 47 flocks of ewe tegs for the same period are also a very good illustration, the number entered being 8836, and the total decrease between Dec. Ist and May 4th, 64 sheep, only -72 per cent.; and I know as a certain fact that this number practically, as far as losses by death are concerned, should have been reduced to 54, as I sold ten ewe tegs from my flock entry that were shipped to United States in April; otherwise there was no loss in my tegs or in sixteen of the other flocks during the five months. In one flock of Hampshire ewes, principally six and seven years old sheep, their prolificness as published in the ‘ Farmer’ was, I certainly think, remarkable, they breeding at the rate of 175 per cent. of lambs from about 200 ewes. Previous to its being published, I heard of this privately from an eminent Hampshire Down breeder, who saw the ewes with their lambs.” “NATURAL HISTORY SALE. luding a very fine Collection of BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA -_. formed by the late Mr. WILLIAMSON. TUESDAY, JANUARY 27th, at 12.30. [R. J. C. STEVENS will offer, at his Rooms, 38, King Street, Covent Garden, London, W. 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See ag Lonpon: WEST, NEWMAN & CO., 54, Haron Gar Os 7ehA - athe ee Zool. 1903. ‘sisugAde cosuy—'p ‘g *P ‘umjosges aasuy—'z ‘| ‘ASHADNVAAG HSILIYG THE ZOOLOGIST No. 740.—February, 1903. BRITISH BEAN-GEESE. By F. W. FrRoHAwk. (PuatE II.) In his article on Anser paludosus (Zool. 1902, p. 441), Mr. Coburn disagrees with my statements published in the ‘ Field ’ * on the Bean-Geese (Anser arvensis and A. segetum), illustrated with the figures of the bills of these birds, which I now reproduce with the kind permission of the proprietor of that journal. Before alluding to Mr. Coburn’s remarks, I may briefly state my reasons for arriving at the conclusions I still maintain regard- ing the specific differences of these Geese. More than a year ago Mr. Serge Alpheraky, the distinguished Russian zoologist, honoured me with his express desire to illustrate in colour his great work on the ‘Geese of Russia,’ which necessitated not only voluminous correspondence passing between us on this group of birds, but the most careful examination of all specimens pro- curable, the result being that our notes agreed on all points of interest we found it necessary to comment upon. The enormous mass of material, amounting to all the available works published on the Geese, and the great number of specimens Mr. Alphéraky has examined, enable him to speak authoritatively on the sub- ject, and the Bean-Geese received his most critical attention. I may say that his views on these birds agree precisely with my * October 4th, 1902, p. 605. Zoot. 4th ser. vol. VII., February, 1903. E 42 THE ZOOLOGIST. own; in fact, this naturalist called my attention to the confusion existing respecting A. arvensis and A. segetwm having been so long confounded as one species. To quote from his letters on the subject, he says :—‘‘ I should much like to know which is the Bean-Goose of Great Britain; I am sure that under the name of A. fabalis two very distinct species are confused by Count Sal- vadori (‘ Cat. of Birds,’ xxvii.), one being segetum, the other arvensis.” Ina subsequent letter he states :—“‘ It is true that I was quite sure that both arvensis and segetwm (two very good Species) must occur in England, but how could I prove it? It is only through your kindness that I learn that is a fact.” And again Mr. Alphéraky says :—‘‘ I am sure that although you have in Great Britain A. segetum as a winter bird, it must be with you a scarce bird, as it 1s, according to my investigations, everywhere in Kurope. I suppose that in general, to every hundred arvensis there exist in the world but one or two segetum. Such is my impression, based on a goodly number of skins from different parts of Kurope and Asia. I suppose that you will find but very few British-killed specimens of segetuwm in your collections, and that arvensis is the Bean-Goose par excellence of your country in winter.” Respecting the scarcity of segetwm, Mr. Coburn (p. 446) remarks :—‘‘ It has been suggested to me that A. paludosus may be identical with Brehm’s A. arvensis. A paper on the latter bird has quite recently (October 4th, 1902) been communicated to the ‘Field’ by Mr. Frohawk, who endeavours to prove that this is the common Bean-Goose of our land. I cannot at present agree with him on several points he raises.” From my investigations I have every reason to believe that segetum is much the rarer of the two species, which is the opinion of others, among whom I may mention such experienced wildfowlers as Mr. Caton-Haigh; and Mr.J.M. Pike tells us, in the ‘ Field, Dec. 20th, 1902, that during thirty years’ punt- shooting he has only occasionally come across A. segetum out of many hundreds of freshly killed Grey Geese. Mr. Coburn admits the similarities existing between his paludosus and arvensis, and I must confess, from the photo reproductions which accompany his article, that the pattern of colouration and the proportionate size of the nail in the bill of BRITISH BEAN-GEESE. 43 paludosus agree very closely with arvensis ; but as the lamine can- not be counted in the figure, and Mr. Coburn omits giving the number in his description, and without actual examination of the specimen, I will not express an opinion of its identity more than to say it resembles arvensis closely, as will be seen by comparing the bills in the two plates. But there is one point of difference shown : the white band of feathers at the base of the bill in arvensis is absent in Mr. Coburn’s bird, according to the figure, unless it is the pale space between the dark band along the culmen and the forehead; but this is not clear enough in the figures to make out, although Mr. Coburn says that it is “curiously exaggerated by the camera in figure ”’ (p. 445). Mr. Coburn makes special allusion to the length of neck in his stuffed paludosus, and seems surprised that I made no men- tion of the long neck and swan-like feet in arvensis. Surely Mr. Coburn must be aware of the danger of attaching much importance to the length of the neck of a stuffed bird. He says (p. 444) :— For their portraits to be taken the birds were placed opposite each other on exactly the same level, so that a glance will show the extraordinary disproportion in the length of neck in each bird.” There seems to me nothing remarkable in this excepting what applies to the taxidermist’s art. *. Mr. Coburn also calls attention to the proportionate size of the nail in paludosus, saying it is ‘larger in proportion than that of A. segetum.” I think if he measures the nail in each figure he will find he is wrong. The figure he gives of segetum is not that of a typical bird as regards distribution of colour in the bill, although, as I have pointed out in the ‘ Field,’ the colour, as well as the number of lamine, are liable to vary; but the colour varies most. On this character Mr. Coburn considers I arrived at too hasty a conclusion, but perhaps he did not read the last paragraph in my article, where he will find I said:—‘‘ There is, of course, a certain amount of individual variation in each species, but the characters pointed out hold good in each, especially the great difference in the comparative size of the nail.” Respecting the variation in the bills of both arvensis and segetum, I will give an extract from a letter recently received * Mr. Coburn in the following paper (p. 47) details his method, of mounting these birds.—Ep. E 2 44 THE 4ZOO0LOGIST. from Mr. Alphéraky on the subject, which I think will prove very interesting :—‘ In the younger A. arvensis (let us say up to four or five years) the black and orange of the bill is disposed very much in the same way as these two colours are disposed in segetum. And this is the reason why the great confusion has arisen. The colouring being similar, people could not dis- tinguish the two species. In such cases the form of the bill and the proportions of the nail to culmen will always (I think) help to settle the question, and often the number of teeth will also serve as a sure guide in difficult cases.” I have lately had the opportunity of making a careful exami- nation of four freshly killed specimens of segetwm, shot in Holland by Mr. J. M. Pike, who at once forwarded them to the British Museum. He says:—‘‘ We obtained five specimens out of a small family of six Bean-Geese. These turned out to be all well- marked examples of A. segetum in two old birds and three young ones.” The following gives the length of bill along culmen, including the nail, and number of lamine of these four speci- mens, which are true segetum, having the large elliptical nail so characteristic of the species, which in arvensis is proportionately much smaller and rounder :— 1. Ad. f. Lamine each side, 21. Bill, 22 in. 2. ¢. Lamine each side, 24. Bill, 23% in. Sito! iy zi Qi: Tee esi Aer » 22 left side, 21 right. Bull, 142 in. Although considerable variation exists in these four birds’ bills, they are quite distinct from arvensis, both in form, colouration, size of nail, length of bill, and number of lamine. Mr. Alphéraky agrees with me in saying the number of lamine in segetwm varies, attaining to as many as 24 in some specimens, just as occurs in A. brachyrhynchus, and states that he has a specimen of segetum from Kulguev with 24; but in the great majority of specimens of both segetum and brachyrhynchus the number is from 20 to 21. The chief points of difference between segetum and arvensis will be readily seen by reference to the accompanying plate and following descriptions :— Fig. 1, Anser segetum, ¢ .—Bill (upper view) : average length of culmen about 24 in.; nail large and elliptical—the nail has a different length in proportion to the total length of the bill in the BRITISH BHAN-GEESE. 45 two species, included in the total length of culmen three and a half times ; colour black, with only an orange band between the nail and nostrils in typical specimens, but the orange, as I have remarked, is subject to variation in distribution in a more or less degree, sometimes extending below the nostril, but this varies according to age. Fig. 2, side view of same. —Culmen considerably curved, lower mandible deep and swollen about the basal third; average number of laminz along each edge of upper mandible from 20 to 21; colour black, with orange band encircling bill in front of nostrils; nail and corresponding portion of under mandible black. Asa rule, no white feathers at the base of bill, excepting in old birds, when a small frontal patch of greyish white may occur. Fig. 8, Anser arvensis, .— Bill (upper view): length of culmen rather over 22 in.; nail proportionately small and rounded, included in the total length of culmen four and a half times. Orange colour extending nearly over the whole of the upper mandible, having only a black bar commencing in front of the nostrils, and running along the culmen to the base, where it becomes paler. Fig. 4, side view of same.—Straighter than that of segetum, and the lower mandible less swollen ; average number of laminze about 28 along each edge of the upper mandible; a few at each end are very small, and hidden from view by the overlapping edge when seen from the side only. Upper mandible almost wholly orange, excepting the black nail on bar and along the culmen, and one or two irregular blackish streaks on the sides. Lower mandible: end black, anterior two-fifths orange, remainder black ; conspicuous band of white feathers extending along the whole basal edge of upper mandible. 46 THE ZOOLOGIST. ON THE SPECIFIC VALIDITY OF ANSER RUBRI- ROSTRIS (Hopeson), AND ITS POSITION AS A BRITISH BIRD. By F. Copurn. Tue specific validity of this bird appears to have exercised the minds of systematists very considerably from 1844 untii the present day. It was in this year (1844) that Gray first separated the bird from A. cinereus, and called it A. erythropus, probably from its red legs; but this name properly belonged to the Lesser White-fronted Goose. In the same year Hodgson, recognizing the many characters which separate the bird from A. cimereus, first named it A. rubrirostris, from the curious red colour of the bill, upon which I shall dilate further on. Hodgson’s name was recognized by Taczanowski in 1877, but Adams in 1859, and Swinhoe at various dates from 1861 to 1870, named it A. ferus. In 1871, however, Swinhoe recognized the bird as A. cinereus var. rubrirostris, being followed by Dybowski in -1873-4, Prie- valsky in 1878, and Seebohm in 1885. Severtszoff, in 1875, named it A. cinereus P subalbifrons, probably from the very distinct but narrow band of white at the base of forehead and sides of bill. Finally—and without following the full synonymy —Count Salvadori, in the Brit. Mus. Cat., Birds, vol. xxvii. p. 91 (1895), fully recognizes Hodgson’s name, and establishes the bird as A. rubrirostris. This decision, however, does not appear to have met with very general acceptance by British ornitho- logists, some still considering the bird to be but doubtfully distinct. It will be my purpose in the present article to endeavour to prove its specific validity, and its occurrence as a rare visitor to Great Britain. It was on Nov. 28rd, 1901, that I received from Limerick, Ireland, five Grey-lag Geese, which instantly struck me as pos- sessing peculiar characters I had never noticed in these birds before. They looked unusually large in size, very pale in their general colouration, an unusually large amount of black on the under parts of the adults, and a very distinct and sharply defined SPECIFIC VALIDITY OF ANSER RUBRIROSTRIS. 47 but narrow band of pure white at base of forehead and sides of bill, present in both adults and immature. But it was the very curious colours of the soft parts which caused me to ponder most, and to still more critically examine my birds, comparing them with my series of A. cinereus, and with fresh specimens of this bird. This was before skinning my five specimens ; and I now made the important osteological discovery that the wings in all of them did not reach the end of the tail by over one inch ! whereas in A. cinereus the wings not only reach the end of the tail, but, if anything, slightly overlap. Upon investigating this matter as fully as I could, I felt fairly confident that my birds must be A. rubrirostris, and that this one osteological character ought to be sufficient to definitely separate the bird from its near ally. When I state that the wing in the adult male gave the great measurement of 194 in. against 18 in. in the largest speci-. men of A. cinereus in my series—a bird I have always regarded as being a very large one—it will be readily understood that the fact of this long wing not reaching the end of tail by over one inch gives to A. rubrirostris a much longer and slenderer form than A. cinereus. This is instantly and strikingly manifest when the mounted birds are placed side by side, and one can see from structure alone that they are distinct birds. I may here say that all my wildfowl are mounted by me; I do not allow any of my assistants to touch them. Consequently all are mounted upon one principle, that being my own. I thoroughly study the anatomy of my specimens, and replace in the skin an exact copy of the body I take out; consequently I get perfect proportions to every bird, and any anatomical peculiarities are bound to show themselves. It is important that I make this statement, other- Wise it might be said that this slenderer form was due to the mounting. I feel quite confident that this slender form to a large bird would be quite apparent if the living bird were seen side by side with A. cinereus. I took the adult male of my five specimens, together with another Wild Goose—noticed in a separate paper *—to the British Museum, and compared it with the series of A. rubri- rostris in the National Collection, the result fully satisfying me that my identification was correct. Some of the Indian skins * Anser paludosus (ante, 1902, pages 441-8). THE 4ZOOLOGIST. were somewhat paler in the colouration of the body plumage, but it can be readily understood that birds coming so many thousands of miles from their usual habitat would be likely to show some modification in their colours. ‘The general types of character are present in all five of my specimens. I exhibited this bird before the June meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club, and pointed out its distinctive characters. In the discussion which followed, Mr. Stewart Baker, an authority on Indian birds, fully confirmed my identification, and gave some valuable information as to the colours of bill and legs in living specimens. I will now give a full description of the colours of the adult male, comparing them with my finest adult male A. cinereus, one of three, also received from Limerick, and from the same man who sent the A. rubrirostris, but in January, 1896. The same type of colouration runs through the entire series of both species, so that the one can be followed just as easily as the other; in fact, they cannot be mistaken. Anser rubrirostris. Adult male. Received from Limerick, November 28rd, 1901. Head and neck a delicate and beautiful shade of dove-grey gradually becoming paler on breast and under parts until the abdomen and under tail-coverts become pure white. From the lower neck to abdomen there are numerous broad patches of black, almost as black as in some specimens of A. albifrons. The flanks commence with the same delicate dove-grey, gradually in- creasing to a hoary slate, margined with pale drab and pure white. The mantle is hoary slate, gradually increasing to deep umber on the longest scapulars, all margined with drab. Back and rump a bluish slate. Upper tail-coverts white. The tail has the centres of the feathers hoary slate, fringed and broadly tipped with white, the white increasing until the outer feathers are reached, the two outer ones being almost entirely white. Outer wing-coverts very pale French grey, almost white ; medians pale slaty drab, margined all round with dull white. Primary coverts have the shorter ones hoary slate, fringed and margined with white, the longer ones a velvety hair-brown, distinctly fringed and margined with white. Primaries hoary slate, SPECIFIC VALIDITY OF ANSER RUBRIROSTRIS. 49 becoming almost black towards tips, the rib white. Secondaries black, delicately pencilled round with white. Tertiaries blackish umber on the inner half, outer half rich velvety hair-brown, mar- gined with white. Alula palest French grey. Under wing- coverts and axillars pale French grey, almost white. The de- scription of the plumage will be complete by repeating that at the base of the bill, on forehead, and at sides there is a narrow but sharply defined band of pure white feathers. This brings me now to the important soft parts, these differing totally from the other bird. The bill commences with a sharply defined crescentic- shaped band of bright scarlet lake ;* from this, along culmen to nail, it is a dull crimson lake, the sides (including nostrils) dull orange-yellow, nail white. Lower mandible dull crimson, white at tip. Gular sac dull orange-yellow. Eyelid reddish brown ; iride dark hazel. Legs and toes a deep reddish pinky, almost terra-cotta red. Webs darker, and nails nearly black. Length, 334 in. to end of tail, 343 to end of toes. Wing, 194in. Weight, 8 lb. Wings do not reach end of tail by over 1 in. Anser cinereus. Adult male. Received from Limerick, January 14th, 1896. Head and neck a brownish drab, gradually becoming a lighter drab towards breast and under parts, which are almost white, becoming pure white on lower breast, abdomen, and under tail- coverts. The under parts, across middle of breast only, sparingly blotched with black. The flanks commence with pale drab mar- gined with lighter, and gradually become a dark umber margined with drabbish white. The mantle is a dark umber-brown, mar- gined with pale dirty drab. Some might describe the mantle as a dark hair-brown. Back and rump a dark bluish slate. Upper tail-coverts white. Tail-feathers have the centres dark brownish slate, fringed and deeply tipped with white, the white increasing outwards, the three outer ones being almost entirely white. Outer wing-coverts French grey, with darker ribs, gradually becoming darker towards the medians, which are a slaty umber margined with dull white. The primary coverts are hoary slate margined with white for the shorter ones, pale umber margined * Confirmed by Dr. Radde, cf. Dr. Bowdler Sharpe’s ‘ Handbook of British Birds,’ vol. ii, p, 229. 50 THE ZOOLOGIST. with drabbish white for the longer ones. Primaries hoary slate, becoming almost black towards end, ribs white. Secondaries a brownish black, delicately fringed with dull white. Tertiaries a blackish umber on the inner half, dull hair-brown margined with paler on the outer half. Alula French grey. Under wing- coverts French grey, with darker ribs. Axillars dark French grey. At the base of the bill on forehead there are a few ill- defined dirty-white feathers. In all standard works the bill of this bird is described as fleshy white; and so it is after the birds have been dead for some time; but those I shot in Iceland, and which I picked up and examined before they were cold, had the bills a dull orange- yellow. This I have found to be the case with other specimens of this bird I have examined here while quite fresh. It may therefore, I think, be taken for granted that the correct colour of the bill in this species is dull orange-yellow, and not fleshy white. The legs and toes are correctly described when they are said to be pinky or fleshy white. Nails pale umber. Eyelid a pinky flesh; iride dark hazel. Length to end of toes, 35+ in. Wing, 18 in. Weight, 8¢ 1b. Wings reach slightly over end of tail. The immature A. rubrirostris differs from the same stage in A. cinereus in several important points, but it will only be neces- sary to mention the colours of the soft parts. In the former the bill is a pale yellow, and the legs and toes a bright Naples yellow. In the latter the bill is a dull yellow, and the legs and toes a brownish flesh. It will be seen from these descriptions, but much more vividly when the birds are looked at, that the general appear- ance of the two species is totally distinct, both in colours and build—so distinct that it seems impossible that any practised eye could glance over them and fail to notice it. The general tone of colouration in the plumage of A. rubrirostris is a delicate dove-grey and hoary slate; in A. cinereus a brownish drab and brownish umber; in short, slate colour predominates in one, brown in the other! Add to this the remarkably distinct coloura- tion of the soft parts, and the structural features I have pointed out; then I think there need not be the faintest hesitation in accepting the bird as a perfectly valid species. SPECIFIC VALIDITY OF ANSER RUBRIROSTRIS. 51 I was much pleased that Mr. Stewart Baker so completely corroborated my observations on the colours of the soft parts ; he added the valuable information that he had seen specimens in which the red of the bill was running in streaks or veins into the yellow of the sides, thus showing that at certain times the bill may be entirely red, as was the case with one of my specimens. * At the meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club a question was incidentally raised as to why this bird had been called the ** Red-billed Grey-lag.” A few words of explanation on this point are necessary. During the past winter (1902) the late Mr. Ernest C. Tye, an ardent wildfowler, and whose subsequent untimely death I deeply deplore, had a friendly chat with me, when I mentioned the great numbers of Wild Geese which I had secured, incidentally naming the ‘‘ Red-billed Grey-lag,”’ but not thinking for a moment that he would consider my chatter of sufficient importance to publish. This, however, he did in his column of the ‘ Shooting Times’ for March Ist, 1902, and this caused some correspondents of the paper to inquire what bird the Red-billed Grey-lag could be; to which I replied. I can see no reason whatever why the bird should not receive this as its common name; it is quite appro- priate and distinctive, and I propose that it should be known as the RED-BILLED GREY-LAG, Anser rubrirostris (Hodgson). The Grey Geese have been a puzzle to ornithologists from the earliest times, their affinities running so close that the species have not been properly discriminated ; it needed the sharp eye of Bartlett to point out the characters which separate A. brachy- rhynchus from A. segetum, while this latter was for long confused with A. cinereus ; but slight though these characters are, everyone now rightly admits its specific validity. Quite recently A. neglectum has been separated upon even more slender characters! These facts must not be overlooked in discussing this question; and Mr. J. H. Gurney’s words, when speaking of the White-fronted Geese (cf. ‘Ibis,’ 1962, p. 272), are very significant and much to the point :—‘ And so long as the slightest difference in colour— even to the colour of an eyelid—can be found, combined (as it is in this case) with some difference of habitat, surely such birds * The adult female. 52 THK Z00LOGIST. ought to be kept asunder.” These words certainly apply with great force to the case of A. rubrirostris. Anser rubrirostris is an Eastern species, breeding in Siberia, and wintering in India and China. It may be asked by some, how such birds could have wandered so far from their usual course. No surprise, I think, need be expressed on this score. I have already pointed out, while discussing the case of Anser gambeli, that many birds are varying their lines of migration, and seeking ‘‘fresh fields and pastures new.’ Plenty of other birds come to us occasionally from Eastern Siberia, and why not A. rubrirostris? The very same time that this presumably small flock of Geese came to our shores, a Baer’s Pochard (Nyroca baeri), from the same regions, made its appearance on Tring Reservoir! (cf. Bulletin, British Ornithologists’ Club, November, 1901), and fell to the gun of the Hon. Nathaniel Charles Roth- schild; thus showing that there was a divergence in the line of migration of Eastern birds at that time, and that probably other specimens of Baer’s Pochard came to us, but were over- looked. I do not regard A. rubrirostris as an overlooked British bird, but as a very rare visitor which has probably never occurred before. I have taken a keen interest in the Ducks and Geese for a great many years past, and I certainly think that this bird has never before occurred within my memory. Four other speci- mens were sent a few days later from the same man at Limerick, but I deeply regret to say that I had not then fully made up ‘my mind as to the identity of the species, and, not wanting to have such a large number of these great birds in my col- lection, allowed them to pass from me. They were plucked and devoured! However, all other Grey Geese which were sent by this man from Limerick for the rest of the season I examined, and they were all A. cinereus. From this we may conclude that one flock of these birds visited Ireland, out of which nine were shot. The birds remained through November, when, if any of their numbers survived, they departed, probably never to return again. Nine of these birds having fallen to the gun within a few days points to the fact that they were strangers from a far-off land where they did not fear man, as our wary Grey-lags have learned to do. 53 NOTES ON THE SHAL AND WHALE FISHERY OF 1902. By Tuomas SourHweE.tu, P.Z.S. At the last moment, after the bulk of the men had “signed on,” the sealing voyage of 1902 was in danger of being ruined by one of those modern trade disasters known as ‘‘ strikes” ; the men, to the number of some three thousand, refused to join their ships, or to allow others to do so, except on terms which it was impossible for the owners to grant; but happily, by the inter- vention of the Governor, and by mutual concessions, this calamity was averted, and the ships left fully manned after very little delay. Much uncertainty existed as to the probable locality in which the young Seals would be found, as no ice was to be seen from the land, and it was thought that they would haul up on the heavy arctic ice farther from the shore, which indeed proved to be the case. The absence of ice on the east coast has by some been thought to be due to a change in the direction of the set of the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic, and to this also is attri- buted the undoubtedly milder winter climate which has been experienced of late in Newfoundland. The first vessel to return was the ‘Newfoundland,’ which arrived on the 23rd March, after a very unfortunate voyage, with only 305 Seals on board. In forcing his way through the heavy arctic floe which Captain Farquhar met with, he unfortunately carried away the vessel’s stem, necessitating his return, and the abandonment of the voyage. The experience of the ‘ Leopard’ may be taken as typical of the eastern fishery. She departed on the 11th of March, and made direct for Funk Island, encountering the loose ice on the 13th, and a few Whitecoats about forty miles N. by E. of that island; but, a gale coming on, she was jammed in the ice, and no more Seals were met with till the 17th. On the 18th the main 54 THE ZOOLOGIST. body of the Seals was struck about fifty miles N.H. of the southern patch, and work commenced. The ice is described as the worst ever seen; huge arctic pans were met with, and the whelping-ice was so thin as to be dangerous, constantly opening, and with ‘slob”’ in abundance—altogether different from the conditions usually experienced; ‘‘a tremendous swell was among it, and pans would split and tear asunder, throwing men into the water without warning. It was highly dangerous work, and the crews were forced to keep together.” On the 22nd March the ‘Leopard’ finished killing, but experienced very heavy weather on the return voyage to St. John’s, where she arrived on the 27th of March with 12,440 young Harps of excellent quality; the fat was said to be over four inches thick, and the pelts weighed from 65 to 81 pounds. Although at the date when killing ceased the young Seals were rapidly taking to the water, their fine condition is advanced as a proof that a day or two’s delay in the departure of the vessels would be beneficial to all. Equally bad weather was experienced at the Gulf fishery. The ‘ Harlaw’ left Channel (Basque) on the 10th of March, and four days later struck a patch of Hooded Seals near Deadman’s Island; but, as several schooners were there, and the patch not a large one, she went in search of the main body of Harps, which she discovered off Meat Cove. The greatest difficulty was expe- rienced in getting the Seals, as the state of the ice was such as to make venturing upon it very dangerous, and the swell was too great to permit of using boats; about 8000 young Harps were, however, secured, when a hurricane came on, and she had to run for shelter to the Magdalen Islands, leaving thousands of Seals, all of large size, on the ice. The catch of the ‘ Harlaw’ was some 8000 young Harps, and about 1000 old and 500 young Hoods, which are estimated to be equivalent to 13,000 young Harps. Other vessels suffered by the terrible weather experi- enced in the Gulf; the ‘ Algerine’ had a large number of Seals panned, of which she secured some 3000, but had to run for shelter to Prince Edward’s Island, and the remainder were all lost to her; many Seals were washed ashore on Prince Eidward’s Island, which doubtless were part of those killed by the ‘ Algerine.’ No vessels were wrecked this year, but the ‘ Newfoundland,’ NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY. 55 as previously stated, practically lost the voyage ‘through i injuries received in the ice; the ‘Nimrod’ narrowly escaped being jammed ten miles off Gull Island, and was beset for fourteen days, losing a large number of panned Seals. The ‘ Terra Nova’ and the ‘ Walrus’ both returned with flags half-mast ; the former lost a man from pneumonia, and the latter, in addition to losing one of her crew by death, landed an insane man at Bird Island Cove. These events were sad, but, in view of the risk and hardship to which 3978 men were exposed, the casualties must be considered slight. The sealing fleet of this season was increased to twenty by the addition of the ‘ Hrik’; 274,589 Seals were landed, valued at £80,525, the average number for the whole fleet being 138,727. Ten vessels secured more than this average, and ten less; nine had more than 15,000, and two less than that number, but over 10,000; the remainder were poorly fished, averaging only 5392. The ‘ Vanguard’ headed the list with 25,707. The Seals were of excellent quality, even better than in the previous season, for although 70,849 fewer in number, their net weight was only 501 cewt. less; but the market for produce is not encouraging. The Whale Fishery in the Greenland Seas has become quite a thing of the past, and in Davis Straits, the season of 1902 has been remarkable, even in this inclement sea, for weather of almost unexampled severity ; the success of some of the vessels, too, was sadly marred by the disasters to others. Capt. Milne, of the ‘ Eclipse,’ learned from the EKsquimaux that a small vessel hailing from London, named the ‘ Perseverance,’ left Cumberland Gulf on the 22nd of October, 1901, but has not since been heard of, and it is feared that she has been lost with all hands. The ‘Alert’ also, the last of the Peterhead vessels, a brig attached to Nobles’ Station, sent out te bring back produce from the ‘station at Cumberland Gulf, was wrecked there in September last, but happily her crew was saved and brought home by the ‘ Kate,’ another small vessel in the same service, which had wintered there. pepe this it is satisfactory to be able to state that the ‘ Forget-me-not,’ a Yarmouth trawler, mentioned in my last notes as missing, arrived safely at St. John’s, Newfoundland, on the 24th of September, having wintered in the pack-ice in THE ZOOLOGIST. Frobisher’s Bay (where she was beset in September, 1901); she was extricated from the ice and set on her way by the ‘ Windward (Peary Expedition). The crew communicated with the Hsqui- maux, and were very successful in hunting Walrus and Musk Ox; but their voyage to St. John’s was a very perilous one. From the first the whalers met with terrible weather. Early in May the ‘ Kelipse’ ran on a rock near Disco, and, badly damaged, put into Holsteinborg for temporary repairs; but, more unfortunately still, during a fearful hurricane, accompanied by blinding snow, the ‘ Nova Zembla,’ in running for shelter to Dexterity Fjord, on the west side of the Straits, went on the rocks, and became a total wreck. Her crew, forty-two in all, after a terrible experience, was rescued by the ‘Diana’ and the ‘ Kclipse,’ which happily were sheltering in the same neighbour- hood; but for this timely assistance in all human probability the crew would have perished. Of the five steamers which left Dundee, we have only four to deal with, viz. the ‘ Active,’ the ‘Eclipse,’ the ‘Diana,’ and the ‘ Baleena.’ The first of these visited Hudson Strait, and brought back the produce of one small Black Whale (9 cwt. of bone), killedin the month of June; a second was killed, but lost in the- ice. Whales were in plenty, but so great was the accumulation of ice that it was impossible to get at them. She also had 11 White Whales, 54 Walrus, 205 Seals, and 77 Bears. The ‘ Kelipse,’ as before stated, had an adventurous voyage. She left Dundee on the 12th April, and experienced very bad weather at the southern fishery. On the 4th of May, when in the vicinity of Disco, and in a blinding storm of wind and snow, she struck upon a submerged rock, where she remained firmly fixed for some time, notwithstanding the exertions of her crew, and in extreme peril of breaking up in the terrible sea which broke over her; but happily the sea itself worked their deliver- ance, and a great wave washed the vessel into deep water again. Although badly damaged, they were able to run for Holsteinborg, where the vessel was temporarily repaired. But even in this crippled condition the brave crew did not neglect the object of their voyage, for on the 10th of May, the gale having subsided, they took their first fish. Fourteen days were lost at Holstein- borg, and, then proceeding on their voyage, the second Whale NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY. 57 was secured on the 20th June; a few days later a third, and in another month, operations having been much hindered by the large amount of floating ice, a fourth was captured,—all large fish. Then came the terrible weather of September, and the incident which enabled them to render assistance to the crew of the stranded ‘Nova Zembla,’ after which the vessel returned to the fishing-ground, and was successful in capturing yet another fine Whale on the 5th October. Of her five Whales the bone of the largest measured 10 ft. 6in., none of them being under 10 ft. The run home was without incident, being accomplished in four- teen days; and, although attended with great hardship, the voyage was very successful, resulting in 5 fine Black Whales, 6 Walrus, 8 Seals, 31 Bears (one of which, a young one, was brought home alive), yielding 57 tuns of oil and 70 cwt. of bone. The ‘ Diana’ was also successful at the spring fishing. On the 28th May she captured a very fine fish, the bone of which measured 11 ft. 6 in.; a second Whale was-seen and unsuccess- fully chased on the same day. Later on Capt. Adams (with Capt. Milne of the ‘ Eclipse’) successfully rescued the crew of the ‘Nova Zembla,’ and finally his exertions were rewarded with four other fine Whales, returning to Dundee with 5 Black Whales, 1 White, 5 Walrus, 17 Seals, and 30 Bears, the total yield of which was 70 tuns of oil and 91 cwt. of bone. The ‘ Balena’ was less fortunate than the sister vessels ; she did not capture a single Black Whale, but her 640 White Whales are valuable; and, in addition, she had the produce of 14 Walrus, 4 Seals, and 17 Bears—the oil of the White Whales is estimated at 65 tuns. The ‘ Balena’ was so unfortunate as to lose one of her crew by death, which took place at sea on the outward voyage. With this exception the health of the various crews, notwithstanding the exceptional hardships of the voyage, has been remarkably good. The total result of the season’s fishing (including the produce of 39 Walrus, 1750 Seals, 13 Bears, and 10 tuns of oil brought home by the ‘ Kate’ from the Cumberland Gulf station) was 12 Black Whales, 652 White Whales, 118 Walrus, 1984 Seals, and 168 Bears, producing 212 tuns of oil and 187 cwt. of bone. The market value of bone is very high, transactions having taken place at £2500 per ton. Oil is selling at £22 10s. per tun. and Zool. 4th ser. vol. VII., February, 1908. F 58 THE ZOOLOGIST. White Whale skin is also high. The total value of the produce may be roughly estimated at, say, £32,420. I have no special information as to the results of the fishery from the Norwegian ports, but I am informed that the Bottlenose fishery in the Greenland Seas has not been more than one-third of that of last year. The Greenland sealing, so far as the steamers are concerned, is virtually a thing of the past; but during the past season, owing to the prevalence of heavy ice throughout the summer, affording rest and shelter to the Seals, as well as facilitating approach to them, the small sailing vessels have done very well, some making two or even three voyages. In fact, the heavy ice, packed by the long-continued EK. and N.K. winds, is said to have extended south in the North Atlantic quite to the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and a large ice-floe was reported off the Treshnish Islands, and on the west coast of Mull; whereas the east coast of Newfoundland, as previously stated, has been unusually free from ice. An extraordinary migration of Seals, said to be Bearded Seals (Phoca barbata), and thought to have come from their breeding quarters in the White Sea, is reported on the northern coast of Norway, and the practical failure of the winter fishery in that locality is attributed to their presence. ‘There is great consternation among the fishermen, and it is feared that the Lofodon fishery may suffer from the same cause. Owing to the sad death of my valued correspondent, Mr. Michael Thorburn, I am largely indebted to his brother, Sir Richard Thorburn, and to the columns of the St. John’s ‘ Kvening Herald,’ for the details of the past season’s sealing voyage; and to Mr. Robert Kennis, of Dundee, for those of the Davis Straits fishery. 59 NOTES ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 1899-1901. By O. V. Apuin, F.L.S. (Concluded from p. 22.) 190]. January 3rd.—Ring-Dove cooing, as if it were spring. 7th.—About an inch of snow on the ground ; birds are already tame. 8th.—More snow. 9th.—About four inches on the ground. Over a hundred Starlings at the birds’ feeding-place. 10th.—Mild again. Mr. Warriner told me that on the 5th he saw a large flock of Wild Geese in wedge-shaped formation, flying S.W., high up, over Bloxham Grove. 14th.—A few Bramblings at Tew. Wood-Pigeons cooing frequently during the day, and the keeper there said they had cooed regularly for the last three weeks. A dozen Goldfinches feeding in bunches of ash ‘‘keys,” bits of which were falling down. 23rd.—A charm of Goldfinches on the glebe farm. 27th.—Hard gale all day from W.N.W. ; torrents of rain and hail at intervals. 30th.—News from Mr. W. H. Warner of a Bittern shot at Ridge’s Weir on the Isis (Oxon) on the 26th; also of one shot at Duxford in January, 1895. 31st.—Saw two Curlews on the wing here. February 2nd.—The largest flock of Fieldfares I have seen this season; they have not been numerous. 5th.—Seven inches of snow on the ground. 7th.—Ten degrees of frost. Two Snipe in a ditch running through uplands at Milcomb. 8th.—Little flock of Linnets. 10th.—Slow thaw. Song-Thrush singing ; they have been F2 60 THE ZOOLOGIST. practically silent for some weeks, although there have been a few about all the winter. 12th.—Severe frost again. 16th.—Severe weather continues. A Robin’s nest with six eggs found in an outhouse one day before the 14th. 21st.—Weather persistently cold, with wind in the N.; slight falls of snow and frost. 23rd.—Much milder. 25th.—Chaffinch singing for the first time. 26th.—Blackbird and Pied Wagtail singing. March 1st.—Yellow Bunting singing. Mistle-Thrush pairing. 16th.—Song-Thrush’s nest nearly finished. A cold stormy month so far. 17th. — Nice morning. Many Redwings; counted forty together, which flew away in company. One or two others sing- ing the “ trui trui trui.” 20th.—Cold; N.E. wind and snowy the last two days. Saw a Chiffchaff for a moment as I was getting up. 23rd.—Still very cold. Some Bramblings; one fine old cock repeated the wheezy ‘‘ weeech,” so much drawn out as to approach the long note or song of the breeding season. 24th.—Some Meadow-Pipits. 25th.—Ground white with snow, and more fell during the day. 26th.—Nine degrees of frost; 27th and 28th, ten degrees, and froze all day. 29th.—Eleven degrees. 30th.—Mild and stormy. A very cold March. April 1st.—Two Chiffchaffs in the warm spot by the brook, which I always search for early ones. 2nd.—Mr. Warriner sent over an adult Kittiwake, which he had found in an exhausted condition near his house ; weighed 84 oz. 4th.—Two Wheatears. 5th.—Blackcap in garden. 8th.—Chiffchaff in song. 9th.—Tree-Pipit. 10th.—Very wet lately ; ground soaked and meadows flooded. 18th.—A Swallow reported in the ‘Oxford Times’ as. seen by Mr. H. Webb at Oxford on the 8th. ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 61 17th.—Willow-Wren and Redstart. Chiffchaff in song for the second time only this spring. The weather turned warm to- day. I have not known the grass-fields so soaked with water for some years at any season. 20th.—Swallows appeared in the village, and a pair went at once into my barn-loft, where they always breed. Blackbird singing while perched on a thatch-coped wall. 21st.—Nightingale and Whitethroats. 22nd.—Cuckoo noisy. 23rd.—Lesser Whitethroat common; Sedge-Warbler, Ray’s Wagtail, Whinchat. A White Wagtail on a ploughed field close to the village. A Nightingale in the paddock-walk again this year. 27th.—Mr. A. H. Macpherson and I sawa fine example of the large race of the Wheatear near the weir-lock, Adderbury ; it appeared to be half as large again as a Chaffinch, and had a very rich buff breast. 28th.—No fewer than three Nightingales in Milcomb gorse, and four reported from the spinney and fox-cover at Tadmarton Camp, near there. The steady increase of this bird during the last few years is most gratifying ; but it is as impossible to account for the increase as it is for the Nightingale practically ceasing to visit the immediate neighbourhood for many years. House- Martin; Grasshopper-Warbler. Not a Stonechat to be seen in Milcomb gorse or on T'admarton Heath, in both of which places it was a few years ago always to be seen in spring ; in the latter locality it used to be quite common, and a characteristic feature. No reason for the disappearance can be given, unless it is that the particular race of Stonechats which used to pass the summer there has been exterminated by severe seasons. The Stonechat was always a partial migrant in North Oxon, appearing in February or March, stray birds being seen very occasionally away from their summer haunts in winter, and more frequently at the time of their return in spring. We watched a Goldfinch shelling out the seeds of Scotch fir-cones. 30th.—Turtle-Dove. May 2nd.—Could hear two Nightingales as I stood at one of the windows to-night, a thing I never did before, although a quarter of a century ago they were always to be heard about the village, 62 THE ZOOLOGIST. 3rd.—We have four round the village, perhaps five, besides those at Milcomb gorse. 4th.—Garden Warbler. 6th.—Saw a Swallow sitting on the top twig of a fairly high. hedge. Mr. Blea told me about the numbers of Golden Plovers which used to visit the high-lying arable land on this side of Chipping Norton thirty or forty years ago. . June 4th.—Arrived home after four weeks’ absence. Song- Thrush singing while sitting on the ridge of the house-roof. Red-backed Shrike near Springfields, Banbury, close to one of the three favourite localities of this bird about here. 5th.—Song-Thrush again singing from the roof-ridge, and my man says that it has done so for three days, sitting there for hours from late in the afternoon. 6th.—Examined a Red-backed Shrike shot near Banbury. 8th.—Some young Rooks still in the nest. 10th.—Shot some branchers out of two or perhaps three neat 15th.—Found at Kingham a half-finished Marsh-Warbler’s nest. I saw it again on the 22nd, when it contained four eggs. This nest was hung to two stems of the meadow-sweet, and was close to an osier-bush. The ‘‘handles” by which the nest was hung to the stems were very remarkable; the attachment of one of them to the stem was nearly two inches above the lower, or normal, portion of the rim of the nest; of the other (most of which was passed round the stem), over one inch. The nest was formed of round stems of grass, with two bits of cotton-thread (one of several strands) about the rim; it was lined with finer grass and some hair. No moss in this nest. 17th.—Some Gulls seen in the Cherwell meadows near the weir-lock, Adderbury. They are very unusual visitors at this season. 22nd.— Young Rooks ‘‘ squawking” from a nest in the Middle-ground rookery, and still there on the 24th. 24th.—There is a small oak spinney in this parish which I have known well all my life. I always wondered that the Wood- Wren did not visit it, and many a time I have looked for the bird in vain. To-day I was passing the spinney at some little distance when the well-known song caught my ear. I watched the bird for an hour or two, and I believe searched every foot of ground ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 63 anywhere near the trees he frequented. But I could not find the female or the nest, and I am inclined to think that the male had strayed here alone. I may say here that I searched for it in 1902 in vain, and that I do not know any locality frequented regularly by the Wood-Wren nearer here than Tew, about four or five miles away, although I have observed it at Tadmarton Heath spinney, not quite so far off. 30th.—Thrush sang on the roof again. July lst.—Goldfinches have young about the garden. 5th.—Bullfinches bite off the tops, and bite open, the seed- pods of the columbines, and eat the unripe seeds. 9th.—A pair of Shrikes very noisy in a tall hedge close to Milton Close, one of the favourite haunts of this curiously local species. They had young out of the nest the next day. 12th.—On two of the recent hot nights, once about 10 p.m. and again about 11 p.m., a Hedge-Sparrow close to the house has burst into a single strain of song. A pair have a nest with eggs in a box-bush just there. In Uruguay I have known the Chin- golo Song-Sparrow (Zonotrichia pileata) do much the same thing. 16th.—The collection of bird-skins formed by the late Rev. A. Matthews, formerly of Weston-on-the-Green, was sold at Mr. Stevens’ rooms. I did not attend the sale, but the skins were examined for use previously, and I afterwards handled a large number of them and bought a few back into the county. With the exception of a little series of the smaller Passeres (all obtained at Weston in 1833 and 1834, and so labelled), the skins were labelled with old parchment tickets. These (with few exceptions) bore only numbers (doubtless referring to a catalogue). The exceptions were a few with ‘‘ Weston” or “‘ Oxford” added. “Oxford” evidently merely had reference to the place whence the example was forwarded, possibly by some wild-fowl shooter, and not to the actual spot where the bird was killed. And I have little doubt that many of the birds were the examples referred to in Messrs. Matthews’ articles on the ‘ Birds of Oxfordshire and its Neighbourhood,’ which were published in this Journal in 1849 and 1850. The following specimens may be here noticed :— Night-Heron, ‘‘ Oxford,” adult. Doubtless the one killed at 64 THE 4ZOOLOGIST. Standlake in the spring of 1835. This is now in my possession, and I have had it set up. Gadwall, male and female, ‘‘ Oxford.”” These were doubtless shot at Standlake, the male in January, 1833, and the female in the following winter. Male now in my possession. Garganey, adult, male. Bittern, ‘* Oxford.” Hen-Harrier, female, ‘‘ Weston’’; now in my possession. Red-necked Grebe, adult, in winter dress; now in my pos- session. Common Sandpiper, ‘‘ Weston,” @ 3 June 1834.” An in- teresting date for its occurrence in Oxon. Hobby, ‘* Weston” (tail worn; had been in confinement). Dotterel, adult ; now in my possession. Fulmar, ‘‘ Weston.”’ Manx-Shearwater, ‘‘ Weston.” 17th.—A pair of Red-backed Shrikes in the old place by the railway on the Lessor Farm, Milcomb. All three favourite haunts are occupied this year, but I have not seen any birds elsewhere. 18th.—My man tells me that a pair of Robins hatched a brood in his garden, and as soon as the young were out of the nest they laid again in the same nest. This brood is now hatched and being fed, he thinks, almost entirely on red currants ! 19th.—Warblers swarming in the kitchen garden ; Blackcaps, Garden-Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats, and Whitethroats, all feeding on red currants and raspberries. The Robins are as bad as the rest. Very hot, dry weather. 28th.—Rain has fallen. The Warblers spend a good deal of time in the pea-rows and broad-bean stalks, which are badly ‘blighted ”’ with a lead-grey or black aphis. August lst.—Garden-Warbler sang several times; unusual at this date. A Green Sandpiper flew low over my head, calling, near Crouch Hill, where there are several small cattle ponds. 6th.—Goldfinch singing, and Starling a little. 10th.—Saw a Green Sandpiper near Nell Bridge, Adderbury. 11th.—Swifts screaming loudly at evening. 16th.—A few Swifts only. 19th.—Peewits in flock in swede fields. 23rd.—Many Ray’s Wagtails in Port Meadow, Oxford. 29th.—Linnets in flocks of a score or more. ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE, 65 30th.—Saw a female Sparrow- Hawk, now a scarce bird just here. September Ist.—Larve of the Death’s-head Moth are common this year. The Landrail, which has of late years become very rare here in the breeding season, and has indeed almost, if not quite, ceased to breed just round here (I did not hear one this summer), passes us on migration in the early autumn (probably from the west), sometimes in considerable numbers. This year, in con- sequence of there being some standing barley and oats (not too much to “ walk”) in the early part of the shooting season, we had an opportunity of. finding a good many, and I have the following notes of them :— 3rd.—Two shot and another seen. 4th.—F ive flushed in a big piece of tall strong oats; as we had no dog working, it is highly improbable that we flushed all the birds there were in it, for even Red-legged Partridges lay well! Two more put up from seeds and barley. I was told of seven shot on the 2nd at Hook Norton, six of them out of one piece of barley. 6th.—One re- ported shot out of barley. 10th.—Six flushed (five of them from six acres of barley on a hill). Several have been sent to the stuffers by this date. 19th.—One reported seen.. 24th.—Two shot. Two of those killed on the 4th weighed 6% oz. and 7% oz. respectively. Two on the 10th, 8 oz. and 810z. All were, I think, young birds. Iris clay-brown with a strong tinge of olive-green. Bill, pinkish-horn; culmen, darker and browner; legs and feet, light korn. Of the two shot on the 24th one was a small bird weighing only 5 oz., although in good condition. The other, I think, was an adult, and weighed 8 oz. 5 drams. This bird was found in a field of long wheat-stubble, and I saw it running before me down the drills; it was not going very fast and in a crouching attitude. I had to run in order to flush it. I mention this because I never before saw a live Landrail on the ground at this season. ‘The stomachs of at least one of those shot on the 10th contained six or eight grains of barley, and the apparent remains of more, with mashed-up insects. Neither of the birds shot on the 24th contained any corn, but their stomachs were full of the remains of insects, chiefly beetles, and a good many little stones, some nearly a quarter of an inch across. 66— THE 4OOLOGIST. 3rd.—Some Meadow-Pipits; early. 5th.—Linnets in flocks of a hundred or more. 10th.—Flocks of from one to two hundred Linnets. 13th.—Heard two Chiffchaffs. 22nd.—News from Mr. G. W. Bradshaw that he saw yester- day a fine adult male Hobby, in the flesh, shot on Goring Heath. Weighed 53 oz. 4 October 1st.—-Saw many Goldfinches in different places during a day’s shooting, chiefly on Milcomb Hills. This bird, except just after a long severe winter, is by no means uncommon in ae part of Oxfordshire. 8rd.—Blackbird singing in a low tone. 4th.—Again. 8th.—Again. 12th.—Flock of about a hundred Greenfinches sutisel by themselves. 17th.—A Royston Crow shot about this time near Banbury. Mr. Bartlett told me that about fifteen years ago he had a dozen to preserve in one winter; but it is quite uncommon in this. county. 24th.—Pied Wagtail singing. November.—Swallows departed very early this year. I took no notes on the subject, until I remarked that the birds were all gone. But I do not recollect seeing even one in October, Nevertheless, two were reported as seen at Sibford on the 24th November (‘ Banbury Advertiser’). 2nd.—Fieldfares flew over garden. 3rd.—Starling eating pyracanthus berries. 4th.—Many Redwings and one Brambling. Goldfinches in small charms, several times and places in course of a day’s shooting. 6th.—A Golden Plover shot in a ploughed field at South Newington Hill. 13th.—Snow fell in the night. 16th.— Half a score of Siskins in some alders. 17th.—A most destructive frost last night. Thermometer down to 14 deg., and stood at 22 deg. at 10 a.m. to-day. 19th.— When we were shooting in a gale of wind from W.S.W., a male Peregrine-Falcon tried to carry off a Red-legged Partridge, ORNITHOLOGY OF OXFORDSHIRE. 67 which, having been shot as it came down wind, fell a long way from the guns. The Partridge being a big one seemed to be too heavy for the Tiercel, which could not rise with it (although it could just carry it along), and had to let it go. 21st.—Obtained a most beautiful example of Leach’s Petrel in the flesh, which was picked up dead between Bodicote and Adderbury on the 19th. When uninjured the plumage of this bird looks as if it had a soft grey “bloom” on it. I was also shown a Spotted Crake, shot near Banbury on the 9th inst. 24th.—News of a strange bird caught by the clap-netting boys in a tall hedge on the night of the 22nd. I got possession of it this evening, and found it was a Great Grey Shrike, inter- mediate between Lanius excubitor and L. major, the white on the secondaries only to be seen on raising the coverts. Unfortu- nately, forty-eight hours of confinement with improper food had been too much for it, and it died in the night. It was a male. - 29th.—Saw a young Barn-Owl, still retaining some down, and the tail only half grown, which was sent to be stuffed a few days ago. The coldest November within most people’s recollection. Twenty-three degrees of frost was registered on the banks of the Cherwell on the 16th, and frost occurred on more than half the nights of the month, while the day temperature very rarely reached 50 deg. Less than an inch of rain fell, but the weather was unusually foggy. December lst.—A few Fieldfares and Redwings only; there are no “haws”’ this year. A Blackbird a day or two ago ate five berries of Cotoneaster simondsi. A Robin eats some of the fowls’ corn daily. 3rd.—An increase in the number of Fieldfares and Redwings, of which there are a fair number now. Goldfinches about the fieids. 6th.—On Clattercote Reservoir there were about thirty Mallard and about fifty Teal; five Tufted Ducks, three or four Pochards, and a fine adult male Golden-Eye. 10th.—News from Mr. G. W. Bradshaw of a Little Owl shot at Wyfold Court on the 7th November. 12th.—Furious snow-storm from north. The train service on our branch line broken down. 68 THE ZOOLOGIST. 17th.—F lock of about a score of Golden Plovers between South Newington and Barford. Blew and snowed at night. 18th.—Frost and snow-storm. 20th.—Goldfinches in the fields. 23rd.—Frost continues. A female Peregrine-Falcon, the finest I ever saw, was shot at Barford, near here. It measured 18} inches in the flesh. Head, face, and nape very dark; mantle pale and blue; throat, fore neck, and breast quite unmarked until the extreme lowest breast is reached. On the lowest part of the breast and the belly, the markings are indistinct and broken. Flanks and thighs with very narrow dark bars. Throat, pale parts of the face, the neck, breast, and belly deeply flushed with reddish buff or dull salmon colour. I never before saw this colour so dark or so rich in this species. Legs and feet lemon- yellow, cere the same (a week after death, and probably faded). 27th.—Charm of six Goldfinches and others. Some Bram- blings. 28th.—Thaw. There has been no Song-Thrush song this month or last (and there was but little autumn song); a great contrast to last year. We have, indeed, few 'l'hrushes remaining with us this winter. 69 NOTES AND QUERIES. MAMMALIA. The Lesser Shrew and Bank-Vole in Suffolk.—As the distribution of the smaller mammals in Suffolk appears to be imperfectly known, the following facts may be of interest :—In 1893-94 I found the Bank- Vole (Arvicola glareolus) not uncommon in the plantations and woods of Huntingfield (North-east Suffolk). On April 25th, 1901, while on a short visit to the same place, I took about twenty-one pellets of the White Owl (Stria flammea). These were afterwards analysed by Mr. Lionel Adams, and amongst the skulls identified were twelve of the Bank-Vole and two of the Lesser Shrew (Sorex minutus). The latter species has, I believe, been only taken previously at Blaxhall, in Kast Suffolk. A small series of twelve pellets from an old willow at Great Thurlow (West Suffolk) also contained a single skull of the Lesser Shrew. Probably further research will prove that it occurs in small numbers throughout the county. —Francis C. R. Jourpain (Clifton Vicarage, Ashburne, Derbyshire). AVES. Nesting Sites of Blackbird and Song-Thrush.—The note by Mr. R. H. Read in the current ‘ Zoologist’ (ante, p. 28) is of considerable interest to me, and I have been looking up my notes of abnormal nesting-sites. There is a particular locality in one of my nurseries where for a long series of years past I find almost annually one or more nests of Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes placed right upon the ground. These have all been found within a piece of land not more than one hundred and twenty yards in diameter, and nowhere else within an area which is some twenty acres inextent. The same birds, or their descendants, have stuck to this ground-nesting, otherwise it is difficult to account for. In April, 1889, I found a couple of Blackbirds’ nests at a distance of about one hundred yards apart. One was built on the level ground at the bottom of a dry stone dyke where a stone had been taken out, and within the little archway thus formed. The other nest was placed midway on the grass slope, of about 18 in. high, 70 THE ZOOLOGIST. that runs along the base of a thorn-hedge. It was in just such a spot as a Robin would have chosen—a little hole in the bank. Somewhat similarly placed Blackbirds’ nests have frequently been found since. Then, in the following spring, I found a Song-Thrush’s nest on the bare open ground in precisely such a situation as a Sky-Lark would have selected—under the shelter of a tuft of grass. In 1898, within a few yards of this spot, a Song-Thrush’s nest was found, built on the ground betwixt rows of young beech-trees that averaged four to five inches high. In subsequent years, as already stated, such ground nests of both Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes have been pretty regularly found. Plenty of hedges and bushes are all around, so that this pre- ference for a lowly site cannot be explained because of any lack of suitable convenience of the usual order. At one time I thought these particular Song-Thrushes might turn out to be of the Hebridean form, which very often, if not always, nests amidst the herbage on rocky ledges ; but a close examination did not disclose either the dark coloura- tion or the hooked beak-tips of that peculiar Thrush of our western islands. Of course we know that some of the North American Thrushes build as regularly on the ground as our Thrushes do in trees, bushes, and hedges in normal circumstances. ‘Then there is our own Ring- Ouzel, which is as often a ground-builder as a ledge-builder.—Rosert Service (Maxwelltown, Dumfries). Blackbird laying on the Ground..—Mr. Read's note on this subject reminds me of a similar incident that came under my own observation in Fifeshire on May 16th, 1891. At the junction of two walls a large quantity of leaves lay blown together, and in the corner, on the leaves, and without any further attempt at a nest, a Blackbird was sitting on three eggs. On the day mentioned I put the Blackbird off the eggs, and I took for granted that she had laid there through necessity, her own nest mayhap having been harried when the first egg was laid.— Rosert Goprrey (46, Cumberland Street, Hdinburgh). The Status of the Goldfinch (Carduelis elegans) in Britain.*— North Wales appears to be a stronghold of the Goldfinch. In Mont- gomery from Welshpool to the west it is comparatively common, and breeds freely about Welshpool, whilst farther up the Severn Valley to | the source it is more local and scarcer. Yorkshire (West Riding).—In the West Riding I know of no authentic breeding of the Goldfinch ; formerly it used to breed sparingly (within * We have received the following notes on this subject since our last issue.—ED. NOTES AND QUERIES. vial the memory of living men). About two years ago I saw a flock of about fifteen to twenty birds feeding on some alders fringing the River Aire, near Bingley. This is the only time I have met with this species in the West Riding, though I have many times looked anxiously for it.—Rossze BurrerrieLp (Wilsden, Bradford). Isle of Man.—lt had become very infrequent, but with the last decade there have been signs of increase. Flocks have been noticed, especially in the north of the island. — P. 8. Ratre (Castletown, Isle of Man). East Sussew.—During the breeding season I have noticed no dimi- nution; large numbers of immigrants appear in autumn and through- out winter. I do not think it can be said there has been any diminu- tion during the period 1894-1902. — W. Ruskin Burrerrietp (St. Leonards-on-Sea). Notts—No doubt that its numbers have seriously declined within memory of the present generation. An old man, whose young days were passed in poaching and birdcatching, has several times told me that he has on occasions caught fifty ‘‘ Proud-Tailors”’ before break- fast. Now it would take a number of years to see the same total.— Cuas. EH. Pearson (Hillcrest, Lowdham, Notts). Hampshire.—When collecting information twelve years ago from all ‘parts of this county for a list of Hampshire birds, I found a general ‘consensus of opinion that it was increasing, thanks to the Bird Pro- tection Act. Since then have lived in two parishes on south side of New Forest, and found it fairly common and nesting. Mr. Meade Waldo, writing in 1900 (‘ Victoria History Hants’), says, ‘‘ decidedly increased in numbers during the last ten years.’’—J. HK. Ketsanu (Milton, Lymington). North Wales.—Roughly speaking, the Goldfinch is most numerous in the south-east of Montgomeryshire and parts of Merioneth; whilst it occurs in many scattered lowland districts throughout the other counties in fair numbers. It has not been noticed as increasing except in the first-named county. Anglesey.—Mr. 8. G. Cummings says it is fairly common in Kast Anglesey in suitable places, and Mr. R. J, Edwards states that at Holyhead it is rather plentiful, notwithstanding birdcatchers. Others speak of it as rather scarce. I am told it does occur on the south-west coast, but never met with it there—district not suitable. Occurs at lighthouses in November. Carnarvonshire.—Owing to the mountainous character of the county the Goldfinch is scarce, except on the lowlands, which are chiefly h 72 THE ZOOLOGIST. confined to the seaboard, and even there it is by no means numerous as a rule. The only district where it is plentiful is in the Conway Valley up to Bettws-y-Coed. Merioneth.—Much of this county also is too mountainous for the Goldfinch, but it occurs in small numbers along the western seaboard, and is fairly common in some of the valleys, as at Llanbedr, Corris, and round Bala. It is particularly numerous in the Dovey Valley from the estuary up to Dinas Mawddwy, and all round Machynlleth, where I saw nests in 1901. | ‘Flintshire and Denbighshire.—Occurs in many parts of these coun- tles—in fact, seems to be generally distributed—but is not numerous, except in the Vale of Clwyd, where it may be described as rather common. Montgomeryshire. — Generally distributed throughout the county, but is less numerous in the western parts than the eastern. It is particularly plentiful around Welshpool, Llanfair, and Montgomery, and large numbers are caught in the autumn to be sold as cage-birds. In this district the bird seems to be on the increase, and there is little doubt that the Protection Act has done good, since it makes it im- possible to expose the birds for sale in the close season.—H. H. Forrest (Brayston Hill, Shrewsbury). A Habit of the Lesser Redpoll (Linota rufescens).—Mr. Blathwayt relates his experience (ante, p. 26) of the nesting habits of the Lesser Redpoll in Lincolnshire, and asks for information from naturalists in other parts of Britain, confirmatory or otherwise, as to its susceptibility to forsake its nest on the occasion of its being disturbed. It is far from being an uncommon nesting species in this district, consequently I have had considerable experience of its nesting habits, but have never known it forsake its nest, however much it has been disturbed. Only last season a friend of mine interested in bird-nest photography ex- pressed a wish that I should find him the nest of the species, which I did, built on a horizontal branch of a Scotch-fir about nine feet from the ground. It was building when it was found, and, although much disturbed, almost daily, it still continued its operations. When it had begun to sit my friend photographed the nest and eggs, but previously to doing so it was necessary to lop the twigs in the vicinage of the nest, thus altering altogether the character of its surroundings; yet notwithstanding this treatment it persistently sat on, and ultimately brought off its young.—H. P. Burrerrizyp (Wilsden, Yorkshire). Wood-Lark in West Suffolk.—On Jan. 14th I saw two Wood-Larks (Alauda arborea) in the flesh at Mr. Travis’s shop in Bury, which had NOTES AND QUERIES. 13 been shot at Rougham. This is a bird little known in Suffolk, though it breeds in the county ; and these are the only ones I ever saw in the flesh. They were probably migrants from the north which the hard weather had brought down, and in no way connected with those which come into Suffolk later in the year for the purpose of nesting.— Juuian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). Hybrids between Domestic Pigeon, 3, x Columba enas, ? .—In ‘The Zoologist’ for June, 1900 (p. 281), when recording a hybrid betwixt a Homer Pigeon and a Collared Turtle, I described how a friend had failed to rear some hybrids obtained betwixt various of his Domestic Pigeons, and Stock-Doves he had hatched and reared from eggs obtained from nests in the sea-cliffs near his house. Invariably the young ones died within a few days after hatching out. In 1901 the same gentleman (Mr. James Blacklock, Southwick) obtained a young Stock-Dove, in the squeaker stage, that had been caught by the keepers on the estate when ferreting rabbits. It had bolted into the net, rabbit fashion. This bird was placed amongst the Pigeons, and soon became quite at home. Late in the summer of 1902 it paired with a Blue Tumbler cock, and they successfully brought up a strong and healthy couple of young, which I had an opportunity of examining on 18th November last. They had then parted with nearly all evidences of adolescence. In appearance they bear much more resemblance to their maternal parent than they do to their father. All four were flying with the other Pigeons in the courtyard, and no person could have imagined for a moment that the Stock-Dove had ever been a wild bird. Perhaps the term ‘wild bird” may not truly apply, because it doubtless looked out upon the world for the first time when it bolted into the rabbit-net.—Rosert Service (Maxwelltown, Dumfries). Protective Colouration of Birds’ Eggs.—Looking over old diaries I came across the following instance, which may be of interest to readers of ‘The Zoologist’ :—On May 4th, 1898, I rescued five fresh (i. e. unincubated) Great Crested Grebe’s eggs, which however, I am glad to say, were not taken in this neighbourhood, from being blown. On the following day I took them over to Hickling Broad, and put two, two, and one into the nests of three Coots, which had not yet laid their own full complement of eggs, removing three, three, and one Coots’ eggs in doing so. Within two days Rooks—or Crows—had sucked every one of the Grebe’s eggs, whilst numerous nests full of Coots’ eggs were left unharmed near by. The slight difference in the ground colour and the absence of the small black markings were appa- Zool. 4th ser. vol. VII., February, 19038. G 74 THE Z00LOGIST. rently sufficient to attract the leery eyes of the prowling Corvide. Hence the necessity for, or one reason of, the ‘‘ Loon”’ covering her eggs so deftly whenever she leaves them, an action which is so rapidly performed that my binocular-aided eyes have sometimes been hardly sharp enough to follow, and that at close quarters. There was a correspondence in ‘The Zoologist’ (1898-1899) about the Moorhen covering its eggs on leaving the nest. This habit is not indulged in hereabouts, at any rate according to my own observations, which have been long and frequent; nor have any of the local ‘‘ egging”’ marsh- men whom I have consulted on the subject ever noticed it, although one of them was sufficiently observant to mention to me the similarity of the surface markings on Coots’ eggs to the black fungoid dis- colourations on dead reed-leaves long before I saw any allusion to this interesting fact in print. When at Cambridge (1876-1879) I found several Moorhens’ nests on and around the much-frequented back river, but never even there observed any other attempt at concealment beyond the partial bending down of tall vegetation over and above the entire nest. This habit is also indulged in, to a less degree, by the Redshank. The Wild Duck and Pheasant often build in very similar situations, and their egg-shells vary but little in shade; yet the land- bird leaves hers open, whilst the water-fowl compensates for the slightly less pigment in hers by covering them up.—Maovrice C. H. Birp (Brunstead Rectory, Stalham). ASVEP EE BA. Larve attacking Toad (Bufo vulgaris).—One day last summer I found a Toad which presented a rather curious appearance, having both nostrils considerably enlarged. I took it home and placed it in a case for more careful examination later on. This I was prevented from doing for several days, and when I next looked, it was lying dead on the bottom of the case, and with one of the eyes and the greater part of one side of the head entirely eaten away by a number of pale yellow larve about one-third of an inch in length, which from their appearance I judged to be the larve of a dipterous insect; but whether the larvee had attacked the Toad after being hatched from the egg, or whether the eggs had been hatched inside the nostrils of the Toad, I was unable to decide. I should be glad to know from some of your readers (1) if this occurrence is common; (2) what species of Diptera or other insect it is which makes the attack. The Toad in other respects seemed in good condition.—B. J. Horton (805, Stratford Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham). NOTES AND QUERIES. 75 [The larvee above referred to as attacking a Toad were doubtless those of Lucilia sylvarum, Mg. (family Muscidae), one of the common sreenbottle flies. Such cases are not uncommon, and entomological literature contains a number of records of the destruction of Toads by the maggots of this fly. It would appear that the eggs are deposited on the Toad’s back, and that the larve on hatching make their way into the creature’s eyes or nostrils. Toads are sometimes attacked in a similar manner by the larve of blowflies (Calliphora), cf. L. G. Guthrie, ‘‘On a Toad killed by the Larve of Blow-Flies,” ‘ Ento- mologist’s Monthly Magazine,’ 1892, pp. 9-12. — E. E. Austen (Brit. Mus., South Kensington).| 76 THE ZOOLOGIST. NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. The Tanganyika Problem; an Account of the Researches under- taken concerning the Existence of Marine Animals in Central Africa. By J.E.S. Moors, F.R.G.S. Hurst & Blackett. It is well within the memory of many, when Burton first dis- covered Lake Tanganyika. Africa was then a dark continent, to be only traversed by the adventurous leader of a big expedition ; to-day it is an ordinary goal for a sportsman, and will soon be tramped by the Cook’s tourist. The discovery of the lake was the event of a geographical season; we are now studying the origin of its fauna, which is the ‘“ Tanganyika problem” which this volume has brought into the domain of real zoological philosophy. The interest in the question has long been accumu- lating from the time when Speke brought home a few shells he had picked up on its shores, and which were recognized as curiously marine. Then Jelly-fishes were discovered in the lake by Dr. Bohm, and a British expedition—purely biological—was despatched in 1896 under the direction of the author of this work. The most definite result of that expedition appeared to be that “‘the sea had at some former time been connected with the lake, but when or how remained a mystery.” Prof. Ray Lankester, who had organized the first expedition, now initiated a second one, and Mr. Moore again started in 1899 for the lake, whose marine molluscs compare, every one, with indi- vidual prototypes in the remains of the old Jurassic Seas. The problem was complicated by one of those speculative assumptions which so often crystallize as dogmas in scientific generalizations. Sir Roderick Murchison, from an examination of then available geological and other facts, had concluded that the interior of Africa had never been beneath the sea, and con- sidered his view was confirmed by the absence south of the equator “ of all those volcanic activities which we are accustomed to associate with oscillations of terra firma.” Consequently, to NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 77 prove his thesis, Mr. Moore had to disprove this theory before offering his own explanation of the facts. His investigation of the geological characters of Central Africa goes to prove that there is no foundation for the Murchison hypothesis, and that there is evidence of vast disturbance in the region of the great lakes. Mr. Moore’s conclusion is that Tanganyika was originally stocked with halolimnic animals * from a western sea, of which the great lake itself, and the vast back waters of the Congo, may be said to be the last remains. Owing to geological changes these became a more and more land-locked sea, ‘‘ and in the course of time the water in these areas became freshened, and consequently a large section of the old marine fauna died out, while those fishes which could withstand the change migrated to acertain extent through- out the fresh waters of the continent.” The reader is not simply asked to accept this proposition, but is afforded a long zoological argument, based on well-marshalled facts, which makes a con- trary opinion almost impossible. We wish space would allow mention of many incidental facts and observations recorded in this volume: such as the opinion as to the origin of park-lands, which the writer of this notice has often seen and pondered in the Transvaal ; that floral changes in these areas are due to physical conditions, and not to the struggle for existence among different species; and that in many of the great lakes ‘‘ there is hardly so much variety of life as there is in an ordinary American or Kuropean puddle.” The recently discovered fishes of Lake Tanganyika, which consist of eighty- seven species, of which seventy-four have been described as new, are enumerated with Mr. Boulenger’s original descriptions, accompanied by a reproduction of Mr. Green’s excellent drawings of the same. The Molluscs, Gastropods, Crustacea, Medusa, Sponges, Protozoa, and new Polyzoan receive ample treatment ; while the whole work is so lavishly illustrated as to render it a notable addition to our knowledge of African zoology. * “ Organisms possessing definitely marine and somewhat archaic cha- racters.” 78 THE ZOOLOGIST. EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. ‘* A Contribution to our Knowledge of the Mole (Zalpa europea) ”’ is the title of a paper contributed by Mr. Lionel HE. Adams to the ‘ Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society ’ (1903). This memoir is a somewhat exhaustive one. It refers to the whole literature on the subject, from Le Court (1798), Saint- Hilaire (1829), Blasius (1857), to modern writers. A number of illustrations are given to show the different structures of Mole- — fortresses, and the writer concludes that ‘‘ these galleries are the natural, incidental, and inevitable outcome of the work of excavating the nest-cavity, and piling up the superincumbent mound.” There is a seemingly enormous proportion of males to females in this animal, but Saint-Hilaire discovered by dissection that the virgin Mole has the same external appearance as the male, and Mr. Adams has given a full translation of the main points in Saint-Hilaire’s demonstration. Amongst the enemies of the Mole, the author mentions a fox-terrier of his, who successfully hunted these animals. The writer of this notice also once possessed a fox-terrier whom he scarcely ever took out for a ramble over and in the Surrey hills and valleys without one or more Moles being found, killed, and triumphantly produced by his canine companion, and this without the slightest incitement. ‘Tur Asian Sporting Newspaper’ for Dec. 13th, 1902, has given a full biographical estimation of Dr. P. L. Sclater, who, as generally known, has vacated the post he has su long and ably held as Secretary of the Zoological Society of London. One paragraph may at least find place here :— «« When Mr. Sclater took over the reins of the Society in 1859 the number of Fellows on its roll was 1716, the income for the previous year £14,034, and the number of admissions to the gardens 333,980. For the last year of the century the number of Fellows was 3250, the income £28,772, and the number of admissions 697,178. A greater and more satisfactory progress during forty years could scarcely be expected, or even desired. And all this is mainly, if noteentirely, due to the untiring and ceaseless energy of the Secretary.”’ EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 79 Ar the meeting of the Zoological Society, held on Jan. 20th last, Mr. F. H. Beddard read a communication dealing with the surface anatomy of the cerebral convolutions in Nasalis, Colobus, and Cynopt- thecus. The wide differences which the brain of Cynopithecus shows from that of the Baboons and its many points of resemblance to the brain of Semnopithecus were pointed out. Colobus was shown to closely resemble Macacus in the structure of its brain. Three brains of Nasalis were reported on, two of which the author owed to the kindness of Dr. Charles Hose, of Borneo. It was stated to be practically impos- sible to distinguish the brain of this genus from that of Semnopithecus. Mr. J. A. Atten contributes a most interesting article to the last issue of ‘The Auk’ on the subject of the A. O. U. Check-list ; its history and its future. It appears that the new and ever-increasing workers at ornithology expend a large amonnt of energy on biblio- graphical studies and consequent changes in nomenclature. This will probably increase in future, and applies to Europe as much as to America, and is not confined to ornithology. ‘‘ The danger of exces- sive splitting is greater now than ever before, since we have reached a point where comparatively few strongly marked local forms remain to be discovered and named, while the number of enthusiastic young workers is steadily increasing. Plainly, not every degree of differ- entiation that can be recognized by the trained expert needs recognition by name, and not every slightly differentiated form that can be dis- tinguished readily on comparison of a large series of specimens should be considered as entitled to a place in a list of North American birds.” Tue following interesting communication is to be found in ‘ The Condor’ in its last issue, commencing vol. v. :— ** Do Wild Birds die instantly ?—Mr. Wm. Earl Dodge Scott, in an article on birds in ‘ The Outlook’ of July 5th, 1902, has made a state- ment that is somewhat remarkabie in that it shows how differently Nature reveals herself to different observers, and especially remarkable because so emphatically backed up by his reference to hunters and others whose occupations teach them to observe. He states that not only do birds die instantly—which term must be here used in a com- parative sense, and is a little strong—when injured or afflicted with illness, but also that in all his experience he has never come across a sick bird or animal in a wild state, nor met with anyone else who has done so. My attention was attracted by this statement, because, 80 THE ZOOLOGIST. although Mr. Scott probably has had much greater opportunities for observation than I, my experience has been very different from his. This may perhaps be accounted for by the mildness of climate, or a lower proportion of bird enemies in the Pacific Coast collecting grounds ; but it is a fact that occasionally sick or suffering birds and animals are to be found in California. For example, I have found dead sea-birds along the shore, with no signs of their having been injured, in a greatly emaciated condition, showing that they had suffered for some time before death. I have shot land-birds that were woefully thin and weak, and have even taken one or two that were so afflicted with some cutaneous disease that it seemed advisable not to handle them. The Californian Jack-rabbit suffers to a great extent from lumps caused by a parasite, and these are sometimes so large, and weaken the animal to such a degree, that it can hardly get out of one’s way. Besides eye- witnesses who can verify some of these observations of my own, there must be others who have had similar experiences, and consequently Mr. Scott’s statement cannot be accepted as an absolute rule.— JosepH Mainuiarp.”—A writer under the initials W. K. F. adds :— ‘My own experience agrees perfectly with that of Mr. Mailliard. During December, 1900, while at Monterey Bay, I saw a Heermann Gull and many emaciated Brandt Cormorants which were dying a slow death, and only yesterday (Dec. 22nd, 1902) saw another during a short walk near the Point Pinos Light. On Laysan Island, Hawaiian group, I saw a number of sickly birds among the seafowl, and found a very rare Petrel in this condition. Mr. Scott’s rule does not obtain among mammals, for, besides the example offered by Mr. Mailliard, I found a large Sea-Lion near Cypress Point, which existed for days in a perfectly helpless and moribund condition, until Prof. Harold Heath and myself mercifully killedit. Dissection showed no internal injuries nor parasites, while the teeth rather pointed to old age.”’ WE are glad to see from the last published Report of the Australian Museum at Sydney that the preparation of the new edition of Mr. A. J. North’s work has been continued. It is practically new, although to some extent based on the former catalogue, and it has been decided to call it ‘‘ Special Catalogue, No. 1, Nests and Eggs of Birds found breeding in Australia and Tasmania.” The first part was issued in June. HS "& BUTTERFLIES | (Macro-Lepidoptera). , with Two Plain and Eleven Coloured Plates, containing upwards 00 Figures. Cloth, bevelled boards, gilt tops. Price 25s. net. By Gov. ELUDSON: 1.E3S, “Author of ‘An ign aes y Manual of New Zealand Intomoloyy.’ lescriptive account of the various species is given, the arrangement followed that. of Mr. E. Meyrick, in his recent seaeieus g of British ed e ne variations in colouring of some of the New Zealand Moths are ry fully described and illustrated—in some instances as many as nine figures ing given of one species. The figures have all been drawn from nature by the ~ Two hundred and thirty-four species are described in this work. With few exceptions these are represented on the Plates, and by far the greater portion are figured for the first time. 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On the Spec - Notes on the Seal. and Whale Fishery of 1902, Th _ Notes on the Ornithology of Oxfordshire, 1899-1¢ Norns and QuErizs :— : - British Bird, F. Cobia 6. Mammatta.—The Lesser Shrew and Bank- Vole in Suffolk, dain, 69. 5 AVES. —_Nesting Sites of Blackbird and Sone ine Robert bird laying on the Ground, Robert Godfr ey, 70. The Status « finch (Carduelis elegans) in Britain, ‘Rosse Butterfield, P. W. Ruskin Butterfield, Chas. EH. Pearson, J. H. Kelsall, H. H Foi 70. A Habit of the Lesser Redpoll (Linota rufescens), EH. P. Butterfi 72. Wood-Lark in West Suffolk, Julian G. Tuck, 72. Hybrids be: Domestic Pigeon. §, x Columba enas, 2, Robert ‘Service, 73. Protec -Colouration of Birds’ Eges, Maurice C. H. Bird, 73. Sef Ampuisia.—Larve attacking Toad (Bufo vulgaris), B. J. Horton, H. E. Aust Novitcus or New Books, 76-77. 4 Tiprrortat GLEANINGS, 78-80. ae iptions for 1902 oe now exprred. 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