30 BRITISH BIRDS. 



exploring in company with Dr. Scharff and Mr. Coffey, were 

 found some bones of the Crane (said to have been common in 

 Ireland in the twelfth century), two bones of the Great 

 Spotted Woodpecker, and a " large " mandible of a Hawfinch. 

 " These," says Mr. Ussher, " seem to have been members of 

 the ancient fauna, though now rare and accidental stragglers." 

 Reports on these caves appear in the Transactions of the 

 Royal Irish Academy, Vol. XXXIII., B., pt. 1, 1906. 



Albinistic Varieties. — Colonel E. S. Mason sends a photo- 

 graph of a pure white Crossbill [Loxia curvirostra) which was 

 shot in, January, 1906, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, and is now 

 in his collection. Mr. W. C. Wright sends a photograph of a 

 female Water-Rail [Rallus aquaticus) which is nearly white, 

 but is mottled on the under-parts. The legs and feet were of a 

 " lightish pink " and the bird was shot on December 15th, 

 1908, in CO. Do^\Ti, Ireland. Mr. A. W. Thornthwaite writes 

 that he saw on March 20th, 1900, near Godstone, a Redwing 

 {Turdus iliacus) with the tail and rump almost entirely white 

 and with a band of white on the mantle just below the nape. 



Chiffchaff in Sussex in Winter. — Mr. R. Morris reports 

 {Zool., 1910, p. 158) that he saw a Chiffchaff at Buxted on 

 January 13th, 1910. Chiffchaffs have frequently been 

 observed in the Avinter in England, but it should be noted that 

 a specimen sent to Mr. Eagle Clarke from Orkney, where it 

 appeared to be wintering with another example, on February 

 5th, 1908, proved to be the Siberian Chiffchaff (P. tristis) 

 {cf. Vol. I., p. 382), and it is possible that the Chiffchaffs 

 which occasionally winter with us are of this species, and not 

 P. rufus. It would be interesting to secure such birds in order 

 to make sure of their identity. 



White Wagtail Nesting on Fair Isle. — Mr. Eagle Clarke 

 records {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1910, p. 67) that a pair of 

 Motacilla alba reared a brood during the summer of 1909 on 

 Fair Isle. This is believed to be the first record of the bird 

 nesting in Scotland. 



Starlings Eating Wheat. — Dr. J. E. H. Kelso brings 

 forward evidence [Zool., 1910, pp. 144-149) to show that 

 Sturnus vulgaris eats Avheat from the time it is sown until the 

 blade is sprouting from the ground. Dr. Kelso considers 

 that this habit has been acquired during the last twelve years 

 or so, but he concludes that the bird does more good than harm 

 taking the whole year round, and it is from this standpoint 

 that we require much more exact information before the 

 Starling or, indeed, any other bird can be condemned as 

 noxious. 



