454 The Zoologist — October, 1866. 



truth, and nothing but ihe truth" would be told, and yet those (and they are many) 

 who confine their attention to British species would not be deprived of information as 

 to those often interesting natives of other climes who may be wafted by adverse winds, 

 or driven by some other strange chance, to those inhospitable shores. — Edward R. 

 Alston; 205, Bath Street, Glasgow, September 4, 1866. 



Albinos. — Since my last account of albinos I have added to my collection and 

 seen many more curious instances of real or part albinos. Of the blackbird I have 

 seen several pied varieties, and one beautiful cream-coloured and white female 

 (still distinguishable by her rust-coloured breast), cream-coloured thrushes, a cream- 

 coloured magpie, a half white slonechal (in my collection), a shag with a while crest 

 (a very striking thing), and a perfect albino curlew, the eyes aud bill being even pink; 

 this bird is in my collection. A friend informs me that he has for me a perfect albino 

 of the common sandpiper, with pink eyes and bill. Of the last two birds I never knew 

 albinos before. A corn crake also in peculiar plumage is worth recording : the top 

 of the head, the neck, back, rump and scapulars rust-colour, edged with yellowish 

 gray; winj;;-coverts and the sides red, barred with while; wing-quills of an uniform 

 brick-red; breast cream-colour; sides of the head slightly tinijed with blue; eyes 

 pink ; feet and bill rich (Icsb-colour. A marsh barrier containing many white feathers. 

 Two or three pied chaffiiiches, a pied wren and a cream-coloured swallow. Real 

 albinos invariably remain wliile; this is noihint; unusual. Many examples are to be 

 met with even in the liumau species. White feathers caused by ^disease will 

 undoubtedly ,in the following moult, if a healthy one, assume the true colour, but 

 natural while feathers never change. — //. lilake-Knox ; Dalkey, Co. Dublin, 

 August 29, 1866. 



Food of the Hobby. — In the stomach of an immature male of this species, killed on 

 the 26th of June last, at Langley, in Norfolk, I discovered nearly the whole of the 

 remains of a gray linnet, two examples of the ghost swift moth, a large dragonQy and 

 several small beetles : the wings of the dr.igonfly were taken off close to the body ; the 

 moths and beetles were swallowed whole. — T. E. Gunn ; 3, West Poltergate, Norwich. 

 Black Redstart in the North of Ireland. — An old male example of this bird is to be 

 seen at Mr. Sheals',birdstufrer, Belfast. I forget from whence it came, but he got it 

 in the flesh. — //. Blake-Knox ; Dalkey, Co. Dublin, August 29, 1866. 



Late Song of the Nightingale. — .Mr. Hayward, a perfectly reliable naturalist of this 

 town, informs me that on Thursday, August 9th, whilst enlomologizing in the early 

 morning, he heard the full song of the nightingale in the wooded pari of a park about 

 a mile from Colchester. He saw the bird, and a friend passing the road at the lime 

 also heard the song. I have watched the habil of the nightingale for many years, but 

 I never heard it sing in the wild stale in August. As a rule, the song is first heard in 

 the eastern counties the second week in April — often on the 11th or J2th. It lasts 

 during the wooing, nest-building, egg-laying and incubation, but invariably stops 

 when the young are hatched, the last week in May, or thereabouts. Of course the 

 bird heard by Mr. Hayward may have been a disappointed lover sending forth its rich 

 mellow notes of reproach before it flew away to softer climes ; or il may have been an 

 escaped prisoner from some wretched cage in which it had been shut up, sending forth 

 its notes of triumph, just to hear how it would sound in the wild echoing grove. In 

 any case the fact is worth recording, for, however simple, in Natural History a fact is 

 worth many thoughts. — C. R. Bree ; Colchester, August 11, 1866.— From the ^ Field,' 



