VOL. Ti.] NOTES. 317 



quite normal for an adult female at that season of year, some 

 of the embryonic eggs being rather more developed than 

 others, but not to any great extent. The fact that the bird 

 was in male-plumage naturally caused greater attention to 

 be paid to the reproductive organs than would have been 

 the case had the plumage and the sex agreed. 



This seems to me very satisfactory evidence that the bird 

 was sexed correctly, especially as the fact that the plumage 

 was abnormal for a hen-bird was noticed at the time. 



By the kindness of the Duchess of Bedford I have been 

 able to examine the specimen, and in plumage it cannot 

 be distinguished from an adult male in summer. It is curious 

 that in both this specimen and that reported by the Misses 

 Baxter and Rintoul, the feathers on one side only of the tail 

 have white tips. When freshly groAvn in the autumn, all 

 the feathers of the tail have white tips but then gradually 

 wear off until by May they have disappeared. In the case 

 of the specimen I have examined I think the feathers on 

 one side of the tail had been accidentally lost and replaced 

 by new feathers so recently that the tips had not become 

 M'orn. 



It is very curious that the ovary in this specimen appeared 

 to be normal, since in the case of female game-birds assuming 

 male-plumage the ovary is always found to be diseased or 

 injured. In all such cases the organs should be preserved 

 for examination by an expert. H.F.W. 



Hoopoe in Forfar. — Mr. T. F. Dewar records {Scot. Nat., 

 1913, p. 18) that a specimen of Upupa epops was obtained 

 at ^I'ewbarns, Lunan Bay. Forfar, on Septc mber 3rd or 4th, 

 1912. 



Hobby in Midlothian. — Mr. R. Tomlinson notes {Scot. 

 Not., 1913, p. 19) that a Hobby {Falco s. suhhuteo)—Sh rare 

 bird in Scotland — was picked up dead outside a wired-in 

 l)oultry-run (having apj^arently come in contact with it) 

 on October I4th, 1912, near Musselburgh. 



Glossy Ibis in Yorkshire. — Mr. E. W. Wade records 

 {Naturalist, 1913, p. 115) that two Egatheus f. falcinellus 

 Mere seen (one, a female, being shot) near Aldborough in 

 Holderness, Yorkshire, on October 18th, 1912. This is very 

 near the date of the Essex examples {supra, pp. 223 and 280). 



Little Bittern in Fifeshire. — Mr. J. Campbell reports 

 {Scot. Nat., 1913, p. 44) that a specimen of Ixobrychus minutus 

 was shot on the banks of the Eden, Fifeshire, on Mav 17th, 

 1912. 



