70 BRITISH BIRDS. [voL. Xr. 
and had evidently previously struck the lantern, as the skull 
was indented. It is clear from Prof. Patten’s description 
that the bird, as he suggests, was in first summer plumage, 
which is easily distinguished from the adult by its browner 
wings and tail, besides other less obvious differences. Prof. 
Patten misquotes Dr. C. B. Ticehurst regarding the moult 
of the Common Wheatear (Brit. B., III., pp. 391-3). Dr. 
Ticehurst stated that the moult from juvenile to first winter 
involves all the plumage with the exception of the rectrices, 
remiges, primary and greater wing-coverts. That is to say 
at this moult the lesser and median wing-coverts are renewed 
instead of “none of the wing-coverts,”’ as quoted by Prof. 
Patten, who has confused this moult with the first spring 
moult. In the Black-eared Wheatear the moult from 
juvenile to first winter is exactly the same as in the Common 
Wheatear except that a varying number of the inner greater 
wing-coverts are also moulted. 
In spring, however, the Black-eared Wheatear has a very 
restricted moult, usually confined to the ear-coverts and chin 
but occasionally extending to some feathers of the crown 
and throat, while the Common Wheatear, as stated by Dr. 
Ticehurst, moults its body-feathers and occasionally the 
innermost greater wing-coverts and rarely the innermost 
secondary.—H. F. W. 
Nicut-HrERon In co. Dusiin.—Mr. F. W. Shaw records 
(Irish Nat., 1917, p. 72) that in Easter week, 1916, a Nycticorax 
nycticorax appeared at Bushy Park, Terenure, and that the 
bird remained there until September. The bird was not at 
all wild and could easily be watched with glasses. 
GREAT SkuA IN SUFFOLK.—With reference to Mr. W. H. 
Tuck’s record of this species near Ixworth, in January 1915 
(Trans. Norf. and Norwich Nat. Soc., Vol. X., pt. 2, p. 178), 
referred to antea, p. 48, we are of opinion that this is probably 
the bird which was picked up in a dying condition at Hunston, 
near Ixworth, on December 3rd, 1914, and recorded by 
the Rev. G. Reginald Harrison in the Field (12.12.14, p. 
980). It is desirable that the mistake in the date should be 
COS as otherwise it may lead to the duplication of the 
record, 
Hasirs oF THE Coor.—Mr. Henry Boase, in the Scottish 
Naturalist (1917, pp. 59-64), has an interesting article on habits 
of the Coot (Fulica a. atra). He deals in some detail with 
their movements, courting antics, call-notes, food, nest- 
building and care of the young, as well as the growth and 
habits of the latter. 
/ 
