Birds. 7387 



justice; but Mr. Hewitson says it is the most beautiful egg be has seen. I believe 

 one of the eggs enumerated by Mr. Roberts to be a manufactured specimen. The 

 price that genuine eggs now bear should put collectors on their guard. How 

 Mr. Roberts could write his article without referring to Mr. Hewitson's work quite 

 surpasses my comprehension. I am also surprised that both the editor and the pub- 

 lisher of the ' Zoologist' (the latter also published Mr. Hewitson's work) could allow 

 Mr. Roberts's mis-statement to pass without comment. — J. P. Wilmot ; Clarendon 

 Lodge, Leamington, February 5, 1861. 



[I entirely exonerate Mr. Van Voorst from all participation in this matter : pro- 

 bably he has never seen Mr. Roberts's paper : he certainly never saw it until after 

 publication. With regard to my own share in the transaction, I cannot conceive I 

 have committed an error in printing the said paper : I hope it will elicit many other 

 communications on the same subject; and I earnestly invite gentlemen who possess 

 or know of eggs of this bird to record the fact at once in these pages : I may thus be 

 enabled eventually to make out a tolerably complete list of these rarities. — E. iV.] 



Additional Egg of the Great Auk. — An egg of this rare, if not extinct bird, not 

 included iu those enumerated by Mr. Roberts (Zool. 7353), exists in this Museum, 

 forming part of the extensive ornithological collection bequeathed to the town of 

 Liverpool by the late Earl of Derby. It is covered over its whole surface with a net- 

 work of fine irregular markings, interspersed here and there with coarser markings 

 and blotches, particularly towards the larger end. At present it is in the hands of 

 Mr. Hancock, for the purpose of being modelled, and Mr. Hancock tells me it is the 

 most interesting specimen he has seen, and differs very much from any other eg^ that 

 has passed through his hands. I have had it photographed, and shall be happy to 

 exchange prints with any proprietor of these rare eggs, as soon as the weather will 

 permit their being taken with efi'ect. — Thomas John Moore ; Free Public and Derby 

 Museum, William Brotvn Street, Liverpool, February 16, 1861. 



Occurrence of the Ivory Gull (Larus eburneus) at Banff". — A specimen of this 

 denizen of the icy regions of the North was obtained at Gardenstown, about the end 

 of December last. It is an immature bird, having the face of a blackish brown 

 colour, and numerous black spots on the wings and upper portion of the body ; the 

 tips of all the wing-feathers, too, are blackish. There is a blackish band across the 

 tail, very near to the end ; but still it is decidedly tipped with while. With these 

 exceptions the bird is pure white, with no appearance whatever of anything creamy or 

 "ivory" about it, as one would be led to expect from its name. Our whale-fishers 

 call it by the more appropriate name of " swan-bird." The specimen alluded to, 

 which on dissection proved to be a male, is beiug preserved for the Banflf Museum. — 

 Thomas Edward. 



Occurrence of the Little Gull (Larus minutus) in Sussex. — During the severe frost 

 I have obtained two specimens of the above species ; one, an adult male, shot at 

 Eastbourne, on the 7th of December ; the other, a young male, shot oflf Brighton, 

 on the 7ih of the present month : they are both splendid birds, the young one being 

 much marked with black. — H. Pratt ; 35, Duke Street, Brighton, January 15, 1861. 



Ornithological Notes from Aldeby, near Beccles. — The following birds have come 

 under my notice during the last two months: — A little auk was killed near Burgh 

 Starthe, December loth. During the first part of December large numbers of pied 

 wagtails, on Aulton Broad and vicinity. On the 20th a fine gray shrike, killed by a 

 man in this village^ was brought me. I heard of a gray phalarope being killed at 



