216 MISCELLANY. 



without a feather of any other colour, and which was recently killed in that city 

 This bird was one of a brood of four, of which the three others were of the 

 common kind. It presents in the most perfect manner all the characters of 

 albinism : the claws and beak are red, and the same colour surrounds the eyes. — 

 T. B. Hall, Woodside, Liverpool, March 1, 1838. 



Occurrence of the Garrulous Roller (Coracias garrula) near Scarbo- 

 rough. — In 1 832 one of these accidental stragglers — a bird of exquisite beauty — 

 was shot while feeding upon a heap of manure in a Turnip-field at Seamer, four 

 miles from Scarborough, and was purchased for the museum of that town. — 

 Patrick Hawkridge, Scarborough, Aug. 7, 1837. 



The Hooper Swan. — On Tuesday last, at Crabbet Park, Sussex, -the seat of 

 F. S. Blunt, Esq., fourteen wild Swans came and settled upon the lake in front 

 of the house. Mr. Blunt, with a single ball in his gun, levelled and killed two 

 of them; one measured eight feet across the wings, and weighed 19 lbs. ; the 

 other weighed 13lbs. — Star in the East, Feb. 10, 1838. — £Dr. Fleming gives the 

 weight of the adult Hooper Swan as 25 lbs. The difference between the weight 

 of the two individuals mentioned in the above extract is remarkable. The frozen 

 state of the lakes and meres in every part of the country would account for a 

 certain loss of flesh, but so considerable a discrepancy in two individuals shot out 

 of the same flock seems inexplicable, unless — which is scarcely probable — the 

 smaller bird should turn out to be Bewick's Swan. — Ed. Nat.~\ 



Pigeon frozen on its Perch. — A circumstance perhaps unprecedented in the 

 annals of freezing, was discovered here last week. A person found in this neigh- 

 bourhood (Crieff) a wild Pigeon literally frozen to the branch of a tree, and so 

 intense was the freeze, that the individual cut the branch, and carried the Pigeon 

 home in that state alive. — Scotch Paper, Feb. 13, 1838. 



Kingfisher frozen to Death. — On Saturday last, a Kingfisher, handsomely 

 feathered, was discovered with its claws frozen to the bough of a tree on the 

 canal side, near this town. It was quite dead ; and attached to each claw was a 

 piece of ice. — North Derbyshire Chronicle, Feb. (?), 1838. 



Red-breasted Merganser. — A fine specimen of the Dun Diver was shot at 

 Rossington, on Friday last, by John Elvidge, the game-keeper of the Rossington 

 manor, and may be seen at Mr. Hodgson's, game-dealer, in St. Sepulchre-gate. — 

 Doncaster Gazette, Jan. 19, 1838. £By the "Dun Diver" we presume the Red- 

 breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) is meant. — Ed. Nat."2 



Instance of extraordinary Fecundity in the Sheep — Mr. Rawlings, of 

 Stogursey, Somersetshire, had a ewe that last year produced six lambs, and all 

 lived ; this year the same ewe produced Jive lambs, but all of which, as well as 

 the ewe, died. — Taunton Courier, Feb. 14, 1838. 



The Death's-head Moth. — One of these monsters of the insect world was 



