20 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



follows : — " I write to ask if you will find space to make known 

 an interesting discovery. I have in my possession a dead starling 

 and cock-sparrow, both with rings on their legs, marked, the starling, 

 Aberdeen University, '69; the sparrow, Aberdeen University, 

 '79. ... I hope this will come under the eye of the student that fixed 

 those rings forty-two and thirty-two years ago. It is difficult to account 

 for the singular coincidence of the birds' migrating so far and dying 

 about the same time so near to each other. It would be interesting 

 to know the age limit of the little feathered Aberdonians." If the 

 writer of this letter keep a sharp look-out he may come across the 

 bird numbered 1066, which presumably migrated with William the 

 Conqueror ! 



Thomas Parkin, in an extra paper to Part 6 of Vol. I., Hastings 

 and East Sussex Naturalist (1911), gives a useful and interesting 

 record of sales of specimens of the Great Auk and its eggs, from 

 the years 1806 to 1910 inclusive. Complete histories, so far as 

 known, are given of 5 birds and 18 eggs, including 1 bird and 

 2 eggs now in the Royal Scottish Museum. The highest price 

 ever paid for a bird appears to be ^350, and for an egg ^330, 15s. 

 The number of specimens in existence is stated to be 80 skins and 

 73 eggs- 



The Long-tailed Duck (Harelda glacialis) is reported by O. V. 

 Aplin (Zoologist, November 191 1, p. 432) to have bred in Orkney 

 during the summer of 191 1. 



A Little Crake (Porzana parvd) was seen near Loch Scamadale, 

 Argyll, on 29th September 191 1. The bird was caught and 

 examined. — The Field, 7th October 191 1, p. 825. 



Two Rock Thrushes (Monticola saxatitis), £ and ? , were 

 procured at Pett, Sussex, on 1st and 2nd September. This is the 

 first record for Sussex, and the first time this species has been 

 obtained in Britain in autumn. — H. W. Ford-Lindsay, British 

 Birds, vol. v., p. 130. 



A small flock of Slender-billed Curlews (Numeuius tenuirostris) 

 were seen on Romney Marsh, Kent, towards the end of September 

 191 1. Of these, three were shot, two on the 21st and one on the 

 23rd. The Slender-billed Curlew has not previously been obtained 

 in Britain. — M. J. Nicoll, British Birds, vol. v., p. 124. 



A Slender-billed Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes macro- 

 rhynchus) is recorded by Mr Edwin Hollis in British Birds (vol. vi., 

 p. 167). It was obtained on 7th August 191 1, at Whitchurch, near 

 Aylesbury, and submitted to Dr Hartert, who pronounced it to be 

 of the Siberian race. 



