606 The Zoologist— Febkuary, 1867. 



understood, the loggerhead shrike (L. carolinensis) — if that is tbe bird in question — 

 may prove to be of occasional occurrence in this country. In Bree's ' Birds of 

 Europe' this bird is said to be identical with L. meridionalis of Temminck. — /. H. 

 Jenkinson; St. Mary's Vicarage, Reading, January 15, 1867. 



Curious Processes in the Tail of the Redwing. — During the late severe weather 

 I have shot many redwings here, and in one specimen have noticed a very peculiar 

 abnormal condition in the tail, the feathers of which have well-marked projections iu 

 the direction of the shafts, fully one-sixteenth of an inch beyond the web of the feather, 

 reminding one of similar projections in ihe tail of the Australian spinetailed swift. 

 This peculiarity, in my specimen, may certainly have been caused by the feathers 

 being worn away by abrasion ; but tbe regular form of the projections goes against 

 this view. I have thought this occurrence of sufficient interest to send it to you for 

 publication, for possibly similar projections may have been observed in other birds. — 

 G. Norman; Den Rhydding, Yorkshire, January 13, 1867. 



Black Redstart at Looe. — A black redstart, in winter plumage, was shot here last 

 Saturday, and another was sceu the week before. — Stephen Clogg ; Looe, Cornwall, 

 January 10, 1867. 



Waxwings in Peebleshire. — I saw in Mr. Small's simp four or five waxwings 

 (I forget the exact number), which were shot near Peebles on the 7th of December and 

 on the 8lh instant. The gamekeeper who shot those on the day first named evidently 

 did not know the value of the birds, as he ofTcred to procure some more for Mr. Small, 

 if the latter would stuff one for him, stating that there was a large flock of them near 

 Peebles at that time. However, the flock did not wail for him, and he did not succeed 

 in getting anymore. — John A.Harvie Drown; Dunipace House, Falkirk, January 15, 

 1867. 



White Linnets. — The following abstract from a Scotch local newspaper may be of 

 interest to some of your readers. It is taken from the ' Kircudbrightshire Advertiser,' 

 of Friday, tbe 28th of December last: — " Among the many flocks of gray linnets in 

 the neighbourhood of Selby, the bird-catchers have observed several pure white liuncts, 

 and though every exertion has been made to catch them they have hitherto eluded 

 their snares, though many of the gray linnets have been caught." I do not know at all 

 if pure white linnets are rare or not, but I suppose that they are not very common. — 

 A. Clark- Kennedy ; 14, Princes Gardens, Princes Gate, W., January 4, 1867. 



Late Swallotv's Nest. — A friend of mine, residing at Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, 

 has sent me an account of a pair of swallows having built a nest at that place so late 

 as the latter end of November last. These birds (or it was believed the same pair) 

 began a nest about that time, at one of the houses on the Terrace, near the sea : 

 from finding that spot too cold, or from some other cause, they soon abandoned it, 

 and went to a farm-yard a little further inland, where, inside a barn, they not only 

 completed a nest, but three eggs were laid in it, after which the birds disappeared. 

 The persons at the farm had watched them with great interest, being, curiously enongli, 

 nearly related to those inhabiting the house on the Terrace, where they were first 

 observed to be building : it was supposed by them that a threshing-machine, coining 

 into the yard, eventually frightened the swallows away, but it is perhaps more probable 

 that their natural instinct, though so late in its promptings, at length caused them to 

 migrate, in spile of the attraction of a new home. I perceive it is stated in Yairell's 

 ' British Birds ' that even the young birds are now and then thus forsaken when hatched 



