HIS NOTES OX THE LILFOED COLLECTION 271 



in Lower Egypt. These Egrets are most adroit 

 fly-catchers, and my birds feed themselves to a 

 great extent on these pests during the summer 

 months. 



' I have at this moment a Dominican Gull 

 that has been here for more than twenty years, 

 and has reared several broods of young hybrids, 

 produced by a cross with the common British 

 Herring Gull. 



' An Australian Thick-knee, or Stone Curlew, 

 is a very great favourite with us, from its tame- 

 ness and quaint attitudes. This is a handsome 

 bird, considerably larger than the Thick-knee or 

 Stone Curlew of this country, with a delicately 

 contrasted plumage of various shades of brown 

 and buff, and brilliant yellow irides. 



' In the courtyard, in a wired enclosure ad- 

 joining the domicile of the bear, are two of the 

 Great Skua (Lestris catarrhactes), a dark-coloured 

 bird of the Gull family ; these birds were sent to 

 me from the island of Foula, in Scotland, which 

 island is, with the exception of one other locality 

 in the same group, the only British breeding- 

 place of this species. A few years ago an 

 enterprising youth at Birmingham issued a 



