200 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vni. 



the bird was a Tree-Pipit {Anthus trivialis) — a verj^ rare 

 visitor to Ireland. 



Grey Wagtails Nesting in Sussex. — Mr. R. Morris 

 records {Zool., 1914, p. 432) that in Jime, 1914, he saw two 

 broods of MotaciUa b. hoarnla in the neighbourhood of 

 I^ckfield. For previous notes on the nesting of this species 

 in Sussex see Vol. VI., pp. 17 and 101. 



Swallow Breeding in Shetland. — In Bird Notes and 

 News (Vol. VI., No. 3, p. 43) it is announced that a pair of 

 SwalloM'S (Chelidon r. rnstica) nested and reared a brood in 

 the summer of 1914 under a bridge at Sellafirth, near Gutcher. 

 By the kindness of the Secretary of the Royal Society for 

 the Protection of Birds we have been permitted to see a 

 letter, in which the correspondent who made the observation 

 so accurately describes the bird and nest that there can 

 be no doubt as to the correctness of the identification. The 

 Swallow has very rarely been recorded as breeding in Shetland. 



" The ' Blue Fulmar ' : Its Plumage and Distribution." 

 — In a paper under this title (Scot. Nat., 1914, pp. 221-5), 

 Mr. W. E. Clarke gives a detailed description of a specimen 

 of Fulmarus g. glacialis in the dark phase of plumage, procured 

 by the Duchess of Bedford in May on St. Kilda. The dark 

 form, which is no doubt a dimorphism, is very rare in British 

 seas, and seems to be confined to St. Kilda, where a few 

 are found each year. This dark variety has been discussed 

 at some length by Dr. O. le Roi in Professor Koenig's Avifauna 

 S'pitzhergensis and his conclusions are quoted by Mr. Clarke. 

 In Spitsbergen and Bear Island Dr. le Roi found not only 

 both phases, but many intermediate in colour, and he made 

 the very interesting observation that the young in down 

 also varied in colour. Mr. Eagle Clarke also refers to 

 Herr A. L. V. Manniche's observations which, put briefly, 

 showed that the light form predominated from the Shetlands 

 northwards to about 74' 30" N., and that north of that on 

 the Greenland coast the dark form predominated (c/. antea, 

 Vol. IV., ^. 345). The fact that the proportions of the two 

 forms should be so exactly opposite in the north and sovith 

 extremes of the range of the species is of great interest. 



Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales. — Mr. H. E. 

 Forrest writes that he hopes shortly to issue a supplement 

 to his Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales, and will be glad to 

 receive additional records or observations from any naturalists 

 who are able to assist in this way. Connniuiications should 

 be addressed to Mr. Forrest at Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury. 



