VOL. VII.] NOTES. 25 



backed GuJl, with which I was able to compare them. 

 Having these four birds under observation at the same 

 time all standing close together, this difference in colour was 

 so very striking that Mr. Sherlock, who is an experienced 

 wild-fowler and keen observer of birds, at once commented 

 upon it. 



I am well aware that " What's hit is History, and What's 

 Missed is Mystery," and possibly a statement of this kind 

 has very little value, except to call the attention of other 

 ornithologists to the question, but I cannot help being con- 

 vinced in my own mind that, provided it is quite certain 

 that this difference in the colour of the mantle is a geogra- 

 phical difference and not a matter of variation or a question 

 of age, then these birds which 1 saw were examples of Larus 

 fuscus fuscus. 



During the next shooting season I hope to obtain a sufficient 

 number of Norfolk-shot specimens to confirm my opinion. 



B. B. Riviere. 



Remabkable Variety of the Pheasant. — In December, 

 1912, Mr. A. Johnson-Ferguson kindly forwarded to me for 

 examination a remarkable specimen of the common hybrid 

 Pheasant {Phasianus colchicus x torquatus) which had been 

 caught at Springkell, Dumfriesshire. It was a female, and 

 the ovary was normal, but the bird was in an emaciated 

 condition and had some yellow watery sores under the skin ; 

 but I suppose that this diseased condition could not be 

 connected with its abnormal plumage. The plumage showed 

 a remarkable combination of melanism, erythrism, and 

 albinism. The whole of the upper-side and wing-coverts 

 were so suffused with black and deep bro\\Ti that the usual 

 greyish-buff edgings and markings had almost disapx^eared, 

 and were only represented by narrow wavy lines near the tips 

 and notch-shaped markings on the edges of the feathers. 

 The back of the neck and upper-mantle were dark chesnut 

 marked with black, and many of the feathers had small 

 metalli3-green tips. The chin, throat, lores (on one side only), 

 and sides oi the neck had many white or white-tipped feathers, 

 and there were a number of white feathers on the points of 

 the mngs (carpal joints), and a trace of white on some of 

 the feathers of the belly. The whole ot the rest of the under- 

 parts were rich chesnut, with large black spots and bars, 

 and a narrow penultimate dark buff band on most of the 

 feathers. The tail was of a dark bro\Mi like the back, Mith 

 broad black markings and narrow reddish-buff wavy bands. 

 I exhibited this specimen at the January meeting of the 

 British Ornithologists' Club, and at the next meeting the 



