332 Miscellaneous Ornithological Notes. 



female is distinguished by a black mark on the cheek, and a- 

 round the eye ; in his description Mr. Gould observes that 

 'this marking in the femalehas hitherto escaped the observation 

 of ornithologists.' This assertion is not strictly correct, at 

 least in regard to one ornithologist, (Montagu, ed. by Rennie, 

 1831, p. 467), who says that 'the female has the same black 

 mark on the side of the head as the male.' In the i British 

 Cyclopaedia of Natural History,' edited by Partington, at p. 

 237, vol. iii. in the description of the smew it is stated, ' the 

 spot on the eye is dusky.' But other naturalists have omitted 

 all notice of this mark in the female ; as Temminck, ('Manu- 

 el d'Ornithologie^, does not mention it, neither does Wilson, 

 ('Birds of America,' edited by Jameson), nor Bewick. The 

 description and figure given by Bewick of his ' lough diver,' 

 ed. of 1832, vol. ii. p. 278), might have been taken from the 

 bird I now have under my inspection. In this specimen there 

 is not the slightest trace of a black mark on the cheek, or a- 

 bout any part of the head. My specimen in evidently an old 

 bird, and in full feather. A fortnight after I procured this 

 specimen, I obtained a second at Preston, in precisely the same 

 state of plumage, with not a trace of the black mark. With 

 great diffidence I venture to offer the following suggestion for 

 the consideration of ornithologists. Seeing that the black 

 mark is not universal in females, may not the birds distin- 

 guished by it possibly be young males, and those not possess- 

 ing it be females ? 



White Partridge. In the township of Alston, a few miles 

 from Preston, in the summer of last year, (1837), a covey of 

 partridges was frequently seen, which contained four birds of 

 a perfectly white colour ; the remaining birds in the covey 

 being in the ordinary plumage. The white birds were all shot 

 in the month of September, 1837, by different persons ; three 

 were suffered to go to decay, and only one prepared for the 

 private cabinet of the gentleman who shot it. A more beau- 

 tiful bird I never beheld; the plumage was of the purest white 

 throughout, without a single speck or flaw of any other colour. 

 The eye was of that bright red peculiar to albinoes ; as the 

 white rabbit, polar bear, ferret, &c. I never saw a ptarmigan 

 whose plumage was of a clearer white than this partridge ; 

 which is the more remarkable, as the so-called white part- 

 ridges are seldom without an admixture of feathers of the usu- 

 al grey colour. # 



The Stormy Petrel. After a dreadfully severe storm of 

 wind in September, 1837, a stormy petrel, (Thalassidroma 

 pelagica), was picked up on Preston Moor, by a little boy, 

 alive, but completely exhausted, although it survived its cap- 



