84 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[April 1, 1899. 



enthusiastic meeting in connection with the German 

 Antarctic Expedition, and in very explicit terms to the 

 expected co-operation of England in the great work of a 

 thorough exploration of the unknown Antarctic area. At 

 present the total amount available, including the two 

 grants referred to above, is about fifteen thousand pounds, 

 but to equip a satisfactory expedition, with two ships, 

 would require one hundred thousand pounds. It is 

 understood that if twenty-five thousand pounds can be 

 obtained steps will at once be taken to organise a modest 

 expedition with one ship, and so comply to some extent 

 with the desire for co-operation on the part of Germany. 

 With a view to help, the scientifie societies in Australia 

 are moving in the matter, with the object of influencing 



the premiers of the different colonies. 

 — .-•-* — 

 Prof. Pickering has announced by telegram, within the 

 last few days, the discovery of a new satellite of Saturn. 

 An approximate computation indicates that the satellite, a 

 small body of the fifteenth magnitude, revolves in an orbit 

 outside the other eight satellites of the planet, and com- 

 pletes its circuit round the primary in a period of seventeen 

 months. It was by means of photography that this 

 discovery was effected. 



The next congress of the South Eastern Union of 

 Scientific Societies will be held at Rochester on May 25th, 

 2Cth, and 27th. ^ 



Biitisi^ ©rntti^oUigical Notes. 



Conducted by Harby F. Witherby, f.z.s., u.B.o.n. 



Fire-crested Wren in Breconshire. — On 27th February, 

 hearing a Crested Wren in my garden with a somewhat 

 different note from the ordinary Gold-crest, my son shot 

 it with a catapult for the purpose of identification, and I 

 found it to be an imdoubted Fire-crested Wren. The 

 stripe through the eye, the sort of black moustache from 

 the corners of the mouth, and the black stripe under the 

 crest, with the white between, left no doubt of the bird's 

 identity. I have always thought this bird occurred 

 occasionally with us, and on that account included it in 

 my list of birds of the county, but it was and is much 

 rarer than I at first supposed. I omitted to say that the 

 above bird was a cock, with all his colours of the very 

 brightest, also that when he flew he darted out from the 

 tree and back, something after the manner of the White- 

 throat ; he also appeared slightly larger than the Gold- 

 crest. He had another with him, which we secured a few 

 days after, very near the same place where we secured the 

 cock. This was the hen bird, and she was much smaller 

 than the cock, and less bright in all her markings, but 

 they both had the beautiful gold sort of mantle on the sides 

 of the neck. I dare say I shall be blamed for killing this 

 pair of birds, but I have been looking out for the Fire- 

 crest for the last eighteen years and this is the first time 

 I have been able to positively identify it in the flesh as 

 occurring here, as from the incessant movements of both 

 this bird and the Gold-crest one is unable to distinguish 

 the stripes on the head which almost alone marks the 

 difference in the two birds. Mr. Marsden, of Chfton, is 

 preserving them both. — E. Cambridge Phillips, The Rock, 

 Bwlch, Breconshire. 



Linota Exilipes (Codes) in Holderness. — On December 

 30th, 1898, two Mealy Eedpoles were shot by a farmer at 

 Skefding, in Holderness. Both birds were killed at a shot, 

 and the only two seen. They had attracted the man by 

 theii light colour and the bright carmine on the breast of 

 the male. These two subsequently came to me through 

 Mr. Philip Loten, of Easington, who set them up. I find 



they are distinctly referable to the Arctic and circumpolar 

 Redpole, the Linota exilipes of Dr. Coues, and are identical 

 with one from the same district which was sent by me to 

 Mr. H. E. Dresser in 1894. There are altogether three 

 species, or, perhaps, only races, of the northern Redpole 

 which have occurred in the Spurn district — the typical 

 Linota liuaria, which in some years is fairly common ; the 

 subject of this notice ; and a still larger and lighter coloured 

 bird which inhabits Greenland, Linota liornemanni, HiilboU. 

 This latter is figured in Lord Lilford'a " Coloured Figures 

 of the Birds of the British Islands" (Vol IV., plate 29), 

 from an example obtained near Spurn in 1883. This, 

 however, is not the only occurrence. On February 25th, 

 in 1892, Mr. Hewetson and I watched for some minutes a 

 most beautiful example (showing more white even than in 

 Lord Lilford's plate) which was clinging to the top of a 

 thistle on Kilnsea Common, close to the sea shore. When 

 first observed it was in company with Snow Buntings, 

 which flew away leaving it clinging to the thistle head, 

 and permitting us a very close approach. Another was 

 obtained near Kilnsea in 1893, and also sent to Lord 

 Lilford. — John Cordeaux, Great Cotes House, R.S.O. 

 Lincoln. 



Correction. — Macqueeu's Bustard (Otis Macqueeni) in 

 Aberdeenshire. — The Bustard shot by Mr. J. G. Walker 

 on October 24th, 1898, at St. Fergus, and unfortunately 

 recorded in the Annals of Scottish Natural History 

 (see Knowledge, February, 1899, page 42) as a Little 

 Bustard, now proves to be a specimen of Macqueen'a 

 Bustard. This bird, which is a female, is only the fourth 

 example of the species which has occurred in Great 

 Britain. The first was obtained in Lincolnshire in 1847, 

 another was shot near Redcar, in 1892, and the third, 

 which I had the pleasure of seeing alive, was shot in 

 Holderness, Yorkshire, in 189G (see Knowledge, November, 

 1896, p. 251). All four specimens of this wanderer from 

 Asia appeared on our east coast in the month of October. 

 — H. F. W. 



King-Eider in Shetland (The Field, March 11th. 1899, p. 356).— 

 Mr. J. E. Harting has examined a speciiiieu of Somateria spectabilis 

 wliich was shot near Lerwick, on February 25th. and sent to Mr. 

 Rowland Ward for preservation. Mr. Harting remarks that in this 

 specimen the bill was rose-pink, the cere bright lemon, the toes 

 orange, with the iuterdigital membranes dusky. The Eing-Eider, 

 wliich is a very beautiful bird, inhabits the Ai-ctio Begions, and its 

 visits to our coasts are rare. 



Mallard and Pintail Hyhrid. — At a meeting of the British 

 Ornithologists' Club, lield on February 15th, the Eev. H. A. 

 Macpherson exhibited a nestling Duck, which was the offspring of a 

 female Anas hoscas and a male Dajila acuta. 



Sed Grouse and Bantam ffi/brid. — At a meeting of the British 

 Ornithologists' Club, held on February 15th, Mr. J. G-. Millais 

 exhibited an extraordinary hybrid between a male Red Grouse 

 {Lagopus scoticus) and a female bantam fowl. 



Barred Warbler in Lancashire (The Naturalist, March, 1899, 

 p. 75). — Mr. W. Ruskin Butterfield records that a male example of 

 Si/lvia nisoria was shot bv Mr. A. P. Page, near Fleetwood, oa 

 August 20th, 1898. 



All contributions to the column, eitJier in the tcay of notes 

 or photographs, should be forwarded to Harry F. Witherby, 

 at 1, Eliot Place, Blackheath, Kent. 



%ttttv. 



[The Editon do not hold themaelvee responsible for the opiniona or 



statements of correspondents.] 



■ 



LOCUSTS IN ENGLAND. 

 To the Editors of Knowledge. 



Sirs, — During the last week three live locusts have been 

 taken in imported vegetables. 



The first at Hampstead, on the 11th inst., by a green- 



