- ke ee ey le eee [hee @ , 
264 | BRITISH BIRDS. ‘vent 
Sanpwicu TERN BREEDING In Co. GaLway.-—Mr. R. FF. 
Ruttledge (Irish Nat., 1918, p. 15) records the nesting 
of the Sandwich Tern (Ster na _s. sandvicensis) in Co. Galway 
for the first time. Mr. Glanville counted twenty birds in one 
group on Mutton Island on June 12, 1917, and on June 17th — 
found five nests with eggs. 
CLtutcHEs OF Dwarr EGes oF BLACK-HEADED Gui 
Mr. J. M. Goodall informs us that he has in his collection 
a set of three dwarf eggs of Larus ridibundus, measuring 
42 x 30, 44 x 31, and 43 x 30 mm., so that six of these 
sets are now known to be in existence, three from Cumber- 
land, one from Norfolk, one from Ireland, and one from 
Holland. The most interesting point about Mr. Goodall’s 
clutch is the fact that the eggs were not infertile, as is almost 
always the case, but all contained well-formed embryos. 
Another set from the same district contains one normally 

shaped egg, 38 x 30mm., and two small distorted eggs about 
the size of marbles, all anfertle 
An UnNRECORDED Eee. or THE GREAT AUK.—It is somewhat 
surprising to find that a hitherto unrecorded egg of the 
Great Auk (Aica impennis) should still exist, but at the 
meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club on January 9th 
Mr. E. Bidwell showed a very handsome and. well-preserved 
specimen, free from flaws, and neatly blown with two holes, 
which is the property of Mr. F. RB. Rowley. At the time of 
the publication of Mr.'T. Parkin’s pamphlet in 1911 on The 
Great Auk seventy-three eggs were known to be in existence, 
and the present specimen raises the number to seventy-four. 
Mr. Rowley’s egg is not of the “blotched” tvpe, but the 
markings consist of irreguiar wavy ijines tending te fcrm a 
zone at the big end. 
Mr. A. H. Parrerson’s MS..Nores.—-We are informed 
by Mr. G. A. Stephen, the Norwich City Librarian, that Mr. 
A. H. Patterson has presented to the Norwich Public Libr ary 
all his notebooks from 1878 to date, as well as a set of his 
published works, articles, letters, etc. For many years past 
Mr. Patterson has w atched and studied the wild life of the 
Breydon estuary.and his notebooks contain a mine of informa- 
tion with regard to the fauna of the district, as well as many 
pen-and-ink drawings and coloured sketches. Fortunately 
most of the Ornithological records have already been published 
in the Zooloyist, the Trans. Norf. and Norw. Nat. Soz., and. 
Mr. Patterson’s own books on Norfolk. We congratulate the 
Norwich Library on the acquisition of this interesting and 
valuable series of original notes, which form a history of 
Breydon in diary form for the last forty years. 
