Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/392

364 Albatross family, of which I am unable to give the specific name. It was caught near Linton, Cambridgeshire, on or about July 1st, and sent to Mr. Travis, with the written order (which I saw) to "stuff this gull." The bird in colour much resembles a Great Black-backed Gull, and measured in the flesh perhaps thirty-four or thirty-six inches, with an expanse of wing Mr. Travis estimated at seven feet. The back and wings are somewhat paler in colour than in Larus marinus, but the tail is blackish instead of white; the head, neck, breast, and belly pure white. It arrived in a perfectly fresh condition, and the colour of the feet and legs at once attracted the operator's attention; he described them as "fleshy blue," and this was quite perceptible when I saw the bird, though it had been set up for some ten days. So far as I am aware, only one Albatross of any species has ever reached England alive, and this lived for a short time in the Zoological Gardens some twelve or fourteen years ago; but the beautifully clean plumage of the Cambridgeshire bird quite precludes the possibility of its ever having been in confinement.— (Tostock Rectory, West Suffolk).

[This specimen has since been submitted to Mr. Howard Saunders, who has again consulted Mr. O. Salvin, our great authority on the Petrels. Both these experts pronounce the bird to be Diomedea melanophrys, the species "which haunted the Færoes for thirty years, and which has also been taken high in the N. Atlantic."—]

Black-throated Diver breeding in Shetland.— During a recent stay in the Shetland Islands, I was assured by a resident that he had several times taken the eggs of Colymbus arcticus. I found that he had an extremely good knowledge of ornithology, and was perfectly certain of the birds, having more than once shot them off the nest. He also gave me an undoubted egg taken by himself last year, but had been unsuccessful in observing any this season.— (Hendon, Middlesex).

Curlew laying Five Eggs.—On June 5th last I discovered a nest of Numenius arquatus which contained five eggs. They were all identical in shape, size, and colour, with the exception of one, which was of a slightly greyer tinge and rougher texture. I have not before noticed any mention of more than the usual complement of four eggs being found.— (Hendon, Middlesex).

Cuckoo's Egg in Nest of Song Thrush.—On June 24th I found an egg of the Cuckoo in a Song Thrush's nest in my garden with three eggs of the owner, the nest being apparently deserted. The Song Thrush's nest is, I believe, very rarely chosen by the Cuckoo for the reception of her egg. On July 8th I had an egg of the Cuckoo from a Hedgesparrow's nest, which was certainly laid by the same Cuckoo, the two eggs being exactly alike, but quite different from any of the others (eighteen or twenty in all)