Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/345

Rh Cuckoos' Eggs.—Among the Cuckoos' eggs which I have seen this year are three which are undoubtedly the eggs of the same hen Cuckoo, but not with those of the same species of foster-parent. All three were taken in an adjoining parish—the first on June 8th, with two eggs of the Hedge-Sparrow; the second on June 21st, also with two eggs of the Hedge-Sparrow; and the third on June 24th, with three eggs of the Yellow Bunting; all three being similar in size, shape, and colour, and having a very clearly defined zone at the larger end. A Cuckoo's egg (the reddest I have ever taken), which I found on July 3rd with three eggs of the Reed-Warbler, showed decided traces of incubation when being blown; but the three eggs with it were all quite fresh. The contrary state of things would have been easy to understand, but this I am unable to explain.— (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk).

Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus) in Norfolk.—On Jan. 24th, 1900, an adult female of this exceedingly rare and perfectly distinct species of Wild Goose was procured in Norfolk, and is now in my collection. During my experience I have seen not merely hundreds, but probably thousands of the ordinary White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) in the flesh, and my eyes are thoroughly accustomed to the general outline and appearance of the bird. When this A. erythropus came into my possession in the flesh, I instantly detected its strikingly distinctive characters, and could not help wondering how any person who had ever seen the two birds in a freshly killed condition could doubt for a moment their specific distinctness. This is, I believe, the second instance only on record for Great Britain.— (7, Holloway Head, Birmingham).

Great Black-backed Gull inland in Wales.—Can any reader of 'The Zoologist' say whether the Great Black-backed Gull still breeds on the islet in Llyn Llydaw, under Snowdon, or not? The Rev. W. Bingley, who ascended Snowdon in either 1798 or 1801, stated that a small island in Llyn Llydaw was "in spring the haunt of the Black-backed Gulls (Larus marinus of Linnæus), which here lay their eggs and bring up their young" (North Wales, 1804). And Dr. Mavor's companions, when on Snowdon in 1805, near the edge of the precipice over the lakes, were enveloped in cloud, and heard the hoarse note of the Cob (vide Zool. 1886, p. 488, for this name), "a bird frequenting the alpine heights" ('The British Tourists' or Travellers' Companion,' 1809, vol. v. p. 276). Until the last few years these birds were reported to breed on an islet in an inland lake in Merionethshire; and this year (1901) I saw, on two occasions in May, a pair of fine old