635 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. [Ibis, 



cases that the weight of the shell was ascertained, and as 

 this is the only conclusive test in such cases, the occurrence 

 of the blue type of Cuckoo's egg in England cannot at 

 j)resent be regarded as established. 



Yours truly, 

 Appleton Rectory, F. C. R. JoURDAlN. 



Abingdon. 



2 A ugust, 1917. 



Brown Jackdaws. 



Sir, — I read Avith very great interest, m ' The Ibis ' for 

 July last, Capt. Sladen's account of the birds he had met 

 with in Macedonia. I was particularly interested in the 

 account of the curious variety of the Jackdaw, Corvus 

 monedula collaris, Avhicli he describes as having a dull riisty- 

 red coloration extending over the primary, secondary, and 

 tertiary wing-feathers. 



In 1903 I spent a most enjoyable holiday in Algeria. On 

 the 14th of March I was looking over the gorge of the 

 Rummel at Constantino and admiring the great wealth of 

 bird-life therein, thousands of Lesser Kestrels, Egyptian 

 Vultures, Rock-Doves, and Jackdaws constantly flying back- 

 wards and forwards in the glorious sunlight ; at the time I 

 noted that there were strange Jackdaws of a dark rusty- 

 brown colour, which varied to nearly black, amongst the 

 ordinary Jackdaws. So when I got back to London I made 

 enquiries of one or two well-known ornithologists, the late 

 Mr. Dresser being one of them, but I could not get any 

 information about these curious brown Jackdaws. I also 

 spoke to Mr. Whitaker of Palermo on the subject, but, 

 if my memory serves me right, he said he had never heard 

 of them ; he may, however, have made further investigations 

 since, and if so it would be of great interest to ornithologists 

 to have his valuable opinion on this subject. Why should 

 some of these birds be brown and others black ; and if they 

 are young birds that are brown, why should the young 

 Jackdaws at home not sometimes be brown ? I have never 

 heard of or seen a brown Jackdaw in this countrv. 



