138 BRITISH BIRDS. 



this collection there are no labels at all except those which 

 were attached by the original owner, and these are so small 

 that it is extremely difficult to read many of them. With 

 regard to the present bird, it has two hanging labels attached 

 to its legs, in the late Mr. Oxenden Hammond's writing, which 

 read as follows : — " Petrel undescribed, picked up dead at 

 Wingham" [Kent] "about 1865. Considered a new species 

 by Gould ; see his autograph attached. Mr. Howard Saunders 

 has a closely resembling specimen from Gibraltar, but without 

 the rosy breast ; he thinks it must be the Mediterranean 

 form of Puffinus anglorum, but does not feel sure." " Breast 

 rosy, like an adult Goosander." 



I think we may take it that such a good ornithologist as 

 the late Mr. Oxenden Hammond woidd not have stated that 

 the bird was picked up at Wingham if he had any doubt on 

 the point, and from his remark on the " rosy breast," which 

 has, of course, now disappeared, the bird must have been 

 very recently dead when it came into his hands. 



I was not aware that any of the Petrels ever had this rosy 

 tint in life, and I cannot find any mention of it with regard 

 to the present species. 



Mr. Hammond does not appear to have taken any further 

 steps to have the identification of the bird made certain, and 

 I presume thought that he was not justified in publishing 

 the record, since Saunders expressed some uncertainty. 



This bird is an example of the darker phase of the Levantine 

 Shearwater in which the yellowish-brown wash on the flanks 

 extends across the belly, and to a rather less extent up the 

 breast. In other respects it exhibits the distinctive features 

 of this species very clearly. It is a little larger than the Manx 

 Shearwater, and the bill and wings are both slightly longer. 

 The back is a deep brown instead of black, the under tail- 

 coverts are brown instead of white, and as has been said 

 above, there is no pure white on the breast and belly, which 

 are everywhere washed with brown, and this is most intense 

 on the flanks. The feathers of the breast also are mottled 

 with dusky-grey. N. F. Ticehurst. 



^ ^ ^ 



Golden Oriole in Fifeshire. — A female Oriolus galbula 

 is reported by the Misses Rintoul and Baxter as having been 

 obtained at Markinch on May 13th, 1908 {Ann. S.N.H., 1908, 

 p. 180). 



Great Grey Shrikes in Scotland. — Twenty-two occur- 

 rences of Laiiius excuhitor are recorded in Mr. John Patterson's 

 useful " Report on Scottish Ornithology for 1907 " {Ann. 



