VOL. VI.] NOTES. 165 



umbrella with which he protected himself was twice ripped 

 up, while one of the birds struck a straw hat, which was held 

 out, with such violence that it stunned itself and fell to the 

 ground. 



Hybrid Eider and Wild Duck. — Mr. W. Eagle Clarke 

 {Scot. Nat., 1912, p. 198, Pl. V.) gives a minute description and 

 a figure of a hybrid between an Eider {Somateria m. mollissima) 

 and a Wild Duck [Anas p. platyrhyncha). It is a drake, and 

 was shot by Mr. Laidlaw on the island of Auskerry, Orkneys, 

 early in 1912. This hybrid is believed to be previously 

 unrecorded, but Mr. Eagle Clarke and Dr. C. B. Ticehurst 

 believe that they saw a similar specimen on the Pentland 

 Skerries in May, 1912. 



Plumage of the Fulmar. — Mr. W. Eagle Clarke gives some 

 interesting notes {Scot. Nat., 1912, pp. 102-4) on the juvenile 

 plumage of Fulmarus g. glacialis from specimens obtained at 

 St. Kilda. He states that the upper-parts of the juvenile 

 are of a decidedly paler grey than in the adult and more 

 uniform in tint, while the head, neck and under-parts of the 

 juvenile are pure white and silky in appearance, whereas in 

 the adult these parts have a yellowish hue. Mr. Clarke also 

 mentions that in the adults some feathers of the mantle and 

 scapulars are edged with ashy-brown as also are some of the 

 wing-coverts on their outer webs. A full description of the 

 coloration of the bill and a few remarks on the pale and dark 

 forms are added. 



Fulmars breeding at Stronsay, Orkney. — Mr, T. 

 Sinclair writes from Stronsay to say that he saw about a 

 dozen Fulmars {Fulmarus g. glacialis) circling about Burg- 

 head in the spring of 1912, and on July 11th succeeded in 

 obtaining one of their eggs. This is apparently a new breed- 

 ing-station {Scot. Nat., 1912, p. 214). 



Fulmars breeding in Ireland. — In our last volume 

 (pp. 141-2) we referred to the important discovery made by 

 Mr. Ussher and others of the Fulmar breeding in Ireland. Mr. 

 Ussher now reports {Irish Nat., 1912, p. 181) that the Mayo 

 breeding-colony appears to be increasing, and that in July, 

 1912, he saw " at least forty birds sitting on their ledges, 

 besides those wheeling in the air." On the same page of our 

 contemporary Mr. C. V. Stoney reports about twelve pairs 

 breeding on some cliffs on the west coast of Donegal, but Mr. 

 Ussher states that this is the same locality as the " Ulster 

 cliff " visited by Messrs. Malcolmson and Green last year. 



