i86i] A Budget of Questions. 149 



an ignoramus in comparison ; but I have done my best to lay the stress 

 where you wished, on the " auth. and ident.," not upon the implement 

 and preparation where by-the-by I am all at sea. 



Thank you for forwarding" your brother's very kind message. It 

 will delight me to hear from him. I often think I partly owe my good 

 luck in making friends with you to our acquaintance at Cambridge. . . . 

 May "Ibis" flourish, and her priesthood, and be the number of her 

 worshippers never less. Yours, 



A. G. MORE. 



P.S. Can the Puffin which visits Shetland in winter be our friend 

 the Fratercula glacialis ? What a chance to have settled the ques- 

 tion of the variety reaching Britain ! You will see the Robin entered 

 as a winter visitor. If this be correct and the bird is unlikely to 

 escape notice in summer what a grand support to your theory of 

 universal migration ! Shall I say also to mine of " Westward Ho" ? 



The following are some queries on Mr. Newton's pro- 

 visional list : 



(March >jth, 1861.} There are several birds in your list for whose 

 nesting I find no book-authority, nor have they been reported in any 

 list. If it should not be giving you too much trouble, I should be very 

 glad if you will tell me in which counties and on whose word they have 

 been stated to nest, so that I may make inquiries when writing to those 

 counties. 



Little Bustard. 



Crane. Are you satisfied the "Cranes" of the ancients were not 

 Herons ? Am not I a hopeful disciple ? 



Ibis. Lays capital eggs once in three months ; but not to be found 

 in my books as nesting in Britain. 



(Green Sandpiper, obs.) Do you believe in the "yarn" that it 

 nests "up a tree" in an old crow's nest? Can this be its regular 

 habit ? 



Black-winged Stilt. Where ? and on whose authority ? 



Pintail Duck. No locality given in my books. 



Ferruginous Duck. Where ? 



Long-tailed Duck. Where ? 



Red-throated Diver. Is not this species become "historical" ? 



(Ringed Guillemot, obs.). Reported by one or two correspondents 

 as nesting with the common species. Mr. , writing from Caith- 

 ness, says he has traced it to quite a different egg. Only a variety, is 

 it not, of the common Guillemot ? but probably breeding intermixed in 

 small numbers. 



Great Auk. Did she ever set foot on Scottish soil? or might she 

 not hatch her eggs beneath her flappers, just like the Northern 

 Diver ! 



