NOTES. 25 



and the keeper then told me that since the first nest was 

 robbed he had found three eggs on the ground, each one in a 

 different place. 



E. Arnold Wallis. 



[It is remarkable that both this species and the Long-eared 

 Owl, which normally breed in trees at some distance from the 

 ground, though in very different sites, occasionally depart 

 from their usual habits and breed either on the bare ground 

 at the foot of a tree or even in a hole in the ground. With 

 regard to the Tawny Owl, instances of nests on the ground 

 at the foot of trees have been recorded from North Wales 

 (C. B. Wharton, Zool., 1866, p. 346), Loch Lomond (J. Lumsden, 

 Proc. N. H. Soc, Glasgow, V., p. 209), and Liineburger Haide, 

 North Germany {Orn. Monatsschrift, 1892, p. 294) ; while 

 nests in rabbit and other holes have been recorded several 

 times from North and South Devon, as well as from Wales 

 and Scotland {cf., Ibis, 1879, p. 378 ; Ann. Sc. Nat. Hist., 

 1896, p. 95 ; Vert. Fauna of N. Wales, p. 212 ; Field, March 

 30th, 1901, etc.).— F. C. R. J.] 



WHITE-BREASTED VARIETY OF THE COMMON 

 CORMORANT. 



The white-breasted variety of the Cormorant described by 

 Mr. Frohawk (Vol. III., p. 385) is certainly not restricted 

 solely to the Scilly Isles. I have observed similar birds in 

 the Mull lochs — salt and fresh — every year. Indeed, I was 

 under the belief, considering the number of examples observed, 

 that all Common Cormorants had pure white breasts at some 

 period subsequent to the dirty-white breast of the first year, 

 but, of course, I had no absolute proof of the age of the pure 

 white-breasted birds. It is this frequent whiteness in the 

 coloration of the under-parts that has given rise to the 

 prevalent popular belief in Mull that the Common Cormorant 

 at a certain period in its life-history is changed into a Red- 

 throated Diver. 



D. Macdonald. 



I WAS much interested in Mr. F. W. Frohawk's account of 

 a white-breasted bird of this species, for on April 29tli, 1910, 

 while visiting an enormous Cormorant rookery on the Lower 

 Danube, consisting of over a thousand nests on submerged 

 willows, I noticed a single bird of this form sitting close to 

 its nest. Seen through the glass at close-quarters its under- 

 surface was exactly like that figured on p. 387 (Vol. III.). 



