Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/250

224 its own exertions for a food-supply, it would doubtless adopt similar habits of feeding. But if it is the difference in the food-supply that causes the Cuckoos to lay eggs of varied types, I would ask Dr. Rey to explain why the Common Guillemot lays eggs of such wonderful variety? The food of one Guillemot at any rate does not differ from that of another Guillemot. I would ask the same question, too, with regard to the eggs of the Tree Pipit, a species whose eggs show a very great amount of variation.— (Cheadle, Staffs).

Colour of the Bill of the Grey Lag-Goose.—At a recent meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, Mr. Caton Haigh asked me what was the colour of the bill of a Grey Lag-Goose (Anser cinereus). I answered, as probably many other persons interested in ornithology would have done, flesh-colour. Now, this last winter I have had opportunities for examining twenty freshly killed Grey Lag-Geese, and in no single instance was the bill flesh-colour. All the ornithological works that I have been able to refer to give the colour as flesh-colour, with the exception of Mr. F.O. Morris. I have looked it up in Seebohm's 'British Birds,' Yarrell, Mr. Howard Saunders's 'Manual,' Prof. Newton's 'Dictionary,' Col. Irby's 'List,' &c, with the same result. All the Geese that I examined were killed by me in March, and I took the trouble of catching some wing-broken birds alive so that the colour should have no opportunity of fading. Each bird had a lemon-coloured bill, almost pale orange, with a narrow fleshcoloured line down the centre, and a white nail. Can the explanation be that this is the colour only at this time of year, or that all these authors have taken the colour from the skins? for after the Geese had been dead some days the colour became more as they state. I shall be very glad to hear the opinion of naturalists or sportsmen, who may have had chances of examining freshly killed specimens, as to the colour of the bill they have found, and at what season of the year they have made their observations. The weight of the birds killed varied between 6¾ lb. and 9¾ lbs., so that it is probable that I examined both old and young birds.— (21, Ryder Street, London, S.W.).

[Macgillivray described the bill of this bird as "yellowish orange, with the unguis white or bluish grey."—]

Russian Partridges.—I recently saw, in the shop of a local gamedealer, some Russian Partridges with black horseshoes on their breasts. I should be glad to know whether these birds come from any particular district, as most of the Partridges sold as Russian that I have previously noticed have little to distinguish them from English birds.— (Shrewsbury).