appears to require explanation. The passage to which I allude is as follows: "We found the bones of five varieties of the cow or ox, five of the deer, two of the goat, and two of the hog or pig, together with those of the hare or rabbit, swan, goose, duck, turkey, and of several game birds." Now I don't like this discovery of the bones of the turkey. This useful bird was not introduced into England very long before the middle, certainly (I think) not before the beginning, of the sixteenth century;* and it is a native of America. Is there any reason to believe that any species of turkey was indigenous to Ireland? I never heard of any evidence in support of such an opinion; but unless we suppose that it was so, we must either conclude that Mr. Glennon has mistaken the bones of some other bird for those of the turkey, in which case doubt would be thrown upon the accuracy of his other anatomical statements, or that they are really the bones of the turkey, and were therefore, with the other bones, placed in their present position at a period far subsequent to the supposed date of the existence of the giant deer. I was much interested in the discussion of which Mr. Glennon's paper forms part, and certainly came to a conclusion in favour of the theory that the giant deer was contemporary with man; but as accuracy is the very soul of the statements upon which this opinion is founded, I have thought it right to point out the apparent error which exists in the passage in question. May I also inquire, of what nature were the "several game birds" mentioned in the sentence which I have quoted, and to what existing species were they most nearly allied?—William R. Fisher; Cambridge, February 24, 1848. Occurrence of the Houbara (Otis Houbara) in Lincolnshire.—A short time ago I sent a communication to the Zoologist' (Zool. 1969), to the effect that I had obtained a male little bustard, which was shot at Kirton Lindsey, in this neighbourhood; but having since become better acquainted with the bustard family, I am convinced of my error, and beg leave to correct it. The following is a description of the bird in my possession. Length 23 inches, expanse of wing 3 feet 8 inches, weight 21 lbs. ; the bill is dark lead colour, compressed at the tip, depressed at the base; irides yellow; the head and throat rufous, mottled with black, with long loose feathers, of a slate colour, hanging over the breast; the chin white; back of the neck white, minutely mottled with brown; the sides of the neck are ornamented with a range of feathers two inches long, about two-thirds of the upper portion black, the lower part white; the back and wing-coverts rufous, mottled with black, with zigzag bars of black across; the quill-feathers black, extending to the end of the tail when closed; under parts white; legs lead colour. On inquiring of Mr. G. Hansley, from whom I received the bird, if he could furnish any particulars respecting it, he sent me the following note. 66 I shot the bird in a stubble field on Kirton Cliff. I did not see it until it got up within twenty yards of me, and I cannot hear of its having been seen in the neighbourhood before." I feel quite sure that this bird has never been confined: its wings and tail are in the greatest perfection, not a feather broken or dirty: its craw was full of caterpillars, beetles and small snails.-Alfred Roberts; Brigg, Lincolnshire, January 25, 1848. [This bird has been purchased by Mr. T. E. Higgins, of York, and turns out to be the houbara, a well-known North-African species of the bustard family. Mr. G. R. Gray, of the British Museum, has obligingly handed me the following synonyms: it * About 1530. is the Eupodotis undulata of G. R. Gray, the Houbara undulata of G. R. Gray's 'Genera of Birds,' p. 83, the Otis houbara of Gmelin, &c. It is well figured in Gould's' Birds of Europe.' Mr. Gray thinks there can be no doubt that it is one of the specimens brought by Mr. Fraser from Africa.—E. N.] Another extremely large Red Grouse (Lagopus Scoticus).—Having just read Mr. Bladon's account of the large grouse shot at Pont-y-pool, I beg to say, that last Thursday week Mr. J. Baron Fielding, of Alershole, near Todmorden, killed a red grouse of the extraordinary weight of 1 fb. 15 ounces.-T. Webster; 96, Ormond Street, Manchester, March 1, 1848. Migration of Plovers.—In answer to the query of Mr. Clibborn as to the migration of plovers (Zool. 2023)—plovers, both gray and golden, are of a highly migratory nature in this country. The birds observed by his correspondent were doubtless wending their way southwards, either in consequence or in anticipation of the cold weather which occurred about that time. With reference to the power of foreseeing changes of weather, which birds of this class possess to a surprising degree, it would be useful if those who observe such migrations would also send notices of the state of the atmosphere, &c., before and after these movements.-William R. Fisher; Cambridge, March 2, 1848. Occurrence of the Common Bittern (Ardea stellaris) at Prestwick Car and Blagdon, Northumberland.—A specimen of the common bittern was seen at Prestwick Car a few weeks ago: another, or perhaps the same individual, was shot at Blagdon by the gamekeeper of Sir M. W. Riding, Bart., on the 4th instant.—T. J. Bold; Newcastle-onTyne, February 19, 1848. Occurrence of the Common Bittern at Ipswich.—Several specimens have been obtained in the vicinity of Ipswich. They appear to be as plentiful as last year.-F. W. Johnson; Ipswich, March 1, 1848. Occurrence of the White Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) in Sussex.—On the 13th of October, 1847, a specimen of the white spoonbill was shot by a man in the Preventive Service, at Cuckmere Haven. I saw the skin immediately after it had been taken off, but unfortunately had not an opportunity of dissecting the body so as to ascertain the sex. The crest was slightly developed, and I think the bird must have been a young male.—William Borrer, Jun.; Cowfold, Horsham, Sussex, February 18, 1848. Occurrence of the Green Sandpiper (Totanus ochropus) at Cambo, Northumberland. -I yesterday saw a specimen of the green sandpiper which had been shot at Cambo the previous day.-T. J. Bold; Newcastle-on-Tyne, February 19, 1848. Egg of the Greenshank (Totanus glottis).-In compliance with your request and that of Mr. Fisher (Zool. 2024), I send you an accurate drawing and description of the egg of the greenshank, mentioned in a previous number (Zool. 2015), as obtained from a bird shot in Sutherlandshire. The egg is larger than that of the redshank by six lines in length and four in breadth : it is of a pale greenish white colour, blotched and spotted with ferruginous and dull red, chiefly at the larger end.-W. M. E. Milner; Nunappleton, Tadcaster, February 20, 1848. [I am much obliged by the kindness of my correspondent in this prompt compliance with my wish: I have sent the drawing to Mr. Fisher, and shall be happy to transmit it to any ornithologist who desires it. It is a departure from the present plan of the 'Zoologist' to give coloured figures, and requires further consideration.— E. N.] Variety of Moor-hen (Gallinula chloropus).—The following description of a variety of the moor-hen was furnished me by H. Haward, Esq., who killed it at Bramford, near Ipswich, December 16, 1847. "The beak is greenish yellow at the tip, red at the base; irides red; the back, scapulars and upper tail-coverts light chesnut; wingcoverts, tertials, quill-feathers and tail black, edged with chesnut; head grayish black; neck, breast and all the under surface of the body grayish white, inclining to chesnut on the flanks and sides; vent-feathers black; under tail-coverts white; legs and toes green; the webs of the feathers on all parts of the body disunited, having the appearance of hair."-F. W. Johnson; Ipswich, February 19, 1848. Occurrence of the Egyptian Goose (Anser Egyptiacus) in Sussex.—An Egyptian goose was shot on the harbour at Shoreham on the 5th of January. This bird I examined before it was skinned, and it proved by dissection a male, and by plumage immature. The gizzard contained nothing but fine sea gravel. The chesnut-coloured patch on the breast was much less clearly marked than in the following specimen. Another Egyptian goose, in the fullest adult plumage, was shot on the mill-pond, near the church, in the parish of Shermanbury, on the 11th of January. It was observed to arrive in the evening from the N.W., and rose immediately on being approached by the person who shot it. The bony enlargement at the divarication of the trachea was rather larger and more truly ossified than in the former specimen. The gizzard contained a small quantity of grass, and fine sea gravel similar to that in the first specimen. The feathers of the lower part of the breast and belly were slightly stained with that peculiar rusty tinge by some attributed to the action of sea water. It is somewhat singular that both birds were shot on the same river, the Adur, the first at its debouchment, and the second just above the point to which the tide rises, by the course of the stream perhaps twenty miles as the crow flies, about twelve from the sea. Both birds had every appearance of being truly wild. The weight of the last-mentioned specimen was exactly 5 lbs; the measurement, from the tip of the bill to the tip of the tail, 2 feet 4 inches; and that of the extent of wing, from tip to tip, 4 feet 3 inches.-Wm. Borrer, Jun.; Cowfold, Horsham, Sussex, February 18, 1848. Occurrence of the Velvet Scoter (Anas fusca) and Common Scoter (Anas nigra) in Suffolk.-A magnificent male specimen of the velvet scoter was received from Aldborough by Mr. H. Haward, of Bramford, in January last: the same gentleman killed a young female of the same species, in the river Orwell, a few days subsequently. I obtained a fine adult male of the common scoter from Beccles, in February, and have since heard of the occurrence of another on the coast.-F. W. Johnson; Ipswich, March 1, 1848. Occurrence of the Surf Scoter (Anas perspicillata) in Shetland.—Last summer, in June, as I was collecting through the north part of Shetland, I observed a very rare British visitor, namely, a fine male specimen of the surf scoter, in "Rona's Voe," in company with some red-breasted mergansers. I tried to get a shot at it for three days in succession, but was unsuccessful, as it always got on the wing before we could get within gun-shot of it, and the fourth day I never saw it at all.—Robert Dunn ; Helister, near Weesdale, Shetland Isles, February 18, 1848. Occurrence of the Summer or Tree Duck at Tenbury.—A specimen of the summer or tree duck has lately been shot at Tenbury, in Worcestershire.-M. Curtler; Bevere House, Worcester, February 27, 1848. Occurrence of the Black-throated Diver (Colymbus arcticus) at Cullercoats, Northumberland.—A specimen of the black-throated diver in a very interesting dress, the black throat characteristic of the summer plumage being nearly complete, was shot off the fishing village of Cullercoats on the 5th instant.-T. J. Bold; Newcastle-onTyne, February 19, 1848. Enquiry respecting the Masked Gull (Larus capistratus), and Remarks in reference to the Glaucous Gull (Larus glaucus) and Greater Petrel (Puffinus cinereus).—Mr. Bury has stated (Zool. 1963) that he found the masked gull (Larus capistratus) was abundant at Malaga. I shall be greatly obliged to Mr. Bury if he will give us some further particulars of this interesting fact, and say if he found them breeding in numbers together, or if mixed with the common black-headed gull, as it is at present quite undetermined if we are to consider the masked gull as a distinct species, or only an accidental variety of the common black-headed gull. Several of our authorities in these matters are disposed to give up the masked gull entirely as a distinct species, but I am quite undecided myself upon the point, and any information tending to settle the question would be very desirable. Mr. Burlingham enquires (Zool. 2027), what is the distinction between the young of the glaucous gull and the Larus fuscus ? First, I should observe that the glaucous gull is analogous in size to the great blackbacked gull (Larus marinus), and has no relation to the Larus fuscus, which is the lesser black-backed gull. The young glaucous gull is easily known by any one who has once seen it, by the pale fallow colour of its plumage, and is on the Yorkshire coast called the cream-coloured gull. The young Iceland gull, which is occasionally killed here, is of the same pale colour, but is easily distinguished by its smaller size ; but both these gulls are at once distinguished from all others by having the quillfeathers either pure white or cream-coloured, whereas all the other commoner gulls, however they may differ in size, age or species, have their quill-feathers black. the same page, Mr. Milner has recorded another specimen of the greater petrel being killed on the Yorkshire coast, but has called it the Puffinus Anglorum, which is the common Manx shearwater, and which in some respects might be called the greater petrel, as we have the obscurus, which is still smaller; but I have no doubt, though I have not seen it, Mr. Milner's bird is the true greater petrel (Puffinus cinereus) of Mr. Gould, a bird of which only a few specimens have been recorded as British. I state this from the circumstance of the person from whom Mr. Milner's specimen was originally procured having lately examined my specimens, and pronounced them to be the same as the one referred to; my specimens being the ones first recorded as British, and those from which Mr. Gould made his drawings.—Arthur Strickland; Burlington Quay, Yorkshire, March 6, 1848. In [The introduction of the specific name of fuscus instead of marinus is an error of my own, and not of my correspondent's; this is also pointed out by Mr. Fisher: I cannot account for its occurrence, except that I trusted to memory instead of referring to a list. With respect to the second error, if it be such, a little explanation is necessary. In Doubleday's list the names of the shearwaters stand thus: SHEARWATER. Puffinus Anglorum, Ray. GREY SHEARWATER. DUSKY SHEARWATER. Puffinus obscurus, Steph. And in this way the names stood in Selby, Gould, and all the works published at that time. Subsequently Temminck, in his Second Supplement,' says that our bird is not the true cinereus, which is a southern species, but the Puffinus major of Faber, the two supposed British species being only different states of plumage of the same bird. Having written to Mr. Doubleday on this subject, he tells me that he believes Temminck to be right. It should be observed that both Mr. Gould and Mr. Yarrell express doubts of the British examples being the true Puffinus cinereus : I cannot find that between the specimens obtained by Mr. Strickland and those of the common British shearwater the slightest discrepancy in structure has yet been detected; the discrepancies pointed out are those of colour and size, and are much less than occur in the cognate genera of sea-fowl.-E. N.] Occurrence of the Little Gull (Larus minutus) at Belfast.-Mr. W. Thompson records in the third number of the Annals of Natural History' the occurrence of two specimens of the little gull, in the estuary at Belfast, in December, 1847: one of them, a beautiful adult specimen, was shot, and was preserved by Mr. Darragh, the curator of the Belfast Museum; the other escaped.-Edward Newman; February 29, 1848. Occurrence of Bonaparte's Gull (Larus Bonaparti) at Belfast.—In the same number of the Annals of Natural History,' Mr. W. Thompson records the occurrence of a specimen of this North-American bird on the river Lagan, about a mile above the lowest bridge at Belfast, on the 1st of February last. It is described in the Fauna Boreali-Americana,' p. 425 : in this work it is stated to be common in all parts of the fur countries, where it associates with the terns, and is distinguished by its shrill and plaintive cry. Audubon observed it at Cincinnati, and shot one specimen at the mouth of the Arkansas: afterwards he saw it in abundance in Chesapeake Bay in April, and at Passamoudy in May. In the latter place it was so abundant that he killed seventeen with one discharge of a double-barrelled gun. Mr. Thompson's Irish specimen is 13 inches 9 lines in length, and the tips of the wings pass the tail 1 inch 9 lines. The beak is 1 inch 1 line in length measured from the forehead, 2 lines in breadth and 3 lines in length; it is black, and rather paler at the base beneath: legs and feet pale flesh-colour. The bird weighed 5 ounces: its stomach contained the remains of two specimens of opossum shrimp, a little vegetable matter, and some small pebbles. Mr. Thompson has given the following detailed account of its plumage. "Head white, excepting the usual blackish seasonal ear-spot of Xema; a little of this colour before the lower portion of and beneath the eye, and a little above it posteriorly —also blackish, mixed with white on the nape : thence to the back very pale pearlgray back or mantle ('manteau,' Temm.) pearl or pale bluish gray. Tail pure white, except from about a line inwards from the tip, where a band of black, nearly an inch in breadth, appears. The wings exhibit generally the bluish gray of maturity, but have clove-brown markings on the bastard wing, lesser coverts and scapulars. Anterior border of the wing white from its shoulder, for the breadth of four greater primary coverts. Primaries exhibiting in degree considerably more black than the specimen described in 'Faun. Bor.-Amer.'-outer margin of the first entirely black; of the second, from the tip upwards for 5 inches, black, thence white; of the third, from the tip upwards, black for 4 inches next the shaft, for 34 inches on outer margin. Remainder of the primaries terminated with brownish black, except at the extreme tip. On the third, the first indication of white appears in a mere line of that colour, thence it becomes gradually larger in size and deeper in shade to the seventh, where it assumes the pearl-gray of the lower portion of the same feather. The black becomes |