The Zoologist— September, 1867. 913 



Albino Titmouse. — On the 29th of July the keeper here observed an albino greater 

 tit: it was accompanied by a number of the same species, and seemed lo suffer from 

 their perpetually mobbing it and following it wherever it went. — John A. Harvie 

 Brown. 



Hawfinch breeding at Selborne. — A fine young hawfinch was caught at Newton 

 Valence Parsonage, a mile from hence, on the 22nd of July : it was nearly or quite 

 full grown. I have more than" once seen the hawfinch at Newton, and my friend 

 Captain Chawner, of Newton Manor, assures me that they often breed there. I see 

 by ray notes that "On the 27lh of August, 1851), I picked up the wings and some 

 feathers of a hawfinch which had evidently been killed by a cat." There is no doubt 

 about their being permanent residents about this neighbourhood. — Thomas Belli The 

 Wakes, Selborne, Alton, Hants, August 1, 1867. 



Sparrow wanted in New Zealand. — At a Meeting of the Committee of the Wan- 

 ganui Acclimatisation Society, held on the 26lh instant, it was resolved: — "That a 

 circular be printed offering a premium of £l per pair for any number of English 

 house sparrows, not exceeding one hundred, delivered alive and in healthy condition 

 here or to the Society's agent at Wellington, within eighteen months from the present 

 lime." — Walter Bul/er, Hon. Secretary ; Wanganui, October 27, 1866. 



Redivinged Starling near Liphook. — While on a visit near Lipbook, in Hampshire, 

 I saw a specimen of this rare species on a beech-tree in the shrubbery : it was not more 

 than ten or fifteen yards from me, so I was enabled to watch him distinctly : he was 

 of a glossy black, the shoulders of the wing beiug red : in his actions he strongly 

 resembled the tils. — W. Jesse. 



Magpie with a Yellow Beak.— Returning from a short trip abroad, I am sorry to 

 find that my note of April 10th, which was honoured with a place in the ' Zoologist' 

 (S. S. 757) has caused some misapprehension. One of your correspondents having 

 inquired (S. S. 706) whether you had "ever 6een or heard of a magpie with a yellow 

 beak," and you having replied, "certainly not," I ventured to remind you and your 

 readers that such a bird exists in California, and " corresponds remarkably" with that 

 seen in Scotland by Mr. Harvie Brown. But I do not think it can be fairly inferred 

 from any expression in my note that I "incline to the belief" that this last was Pica 

 (not Picus) Nuttalli, as Mr. Beckwitb (S.S. 826) supposes I do. He most justly states 

 the improbability of such having been the case, though he does not mention the 

 possibility (which should not be altogether overlooked) of the bird having been an im- 

 portation. His suggestion that it had been robbing a nest is one in which I cannot 

 acquiesce, for several reasons, but on these I need not now dwell. The matter, however, is 

 one of perhaps no small interest. If it be true, as I suspect it is, that species 

 occasionally vary so as to resemble other allied species, the same sort of causes 

 which in America have produced a permanent race of magpies having yellow 

 bills may in Europe have produced a single example distinguished by the same 

 peculiarity, and averse as I am to the common and senseless practice of destroying 

 every strange-looking bird observed in this country, I cannot but regret that in this 

 instance Mr. Brown was unsuccessful in securing for examination the object of his 

 wonder. — Alfred Newton ; Magdalene College, Cambridge, July 17, 1867. 



[I think the hypothesis that a magpie would acquire a yellow beak by devouring 

 an egg, or any number of eggs, would be refuted by experiment ; I believe the beak 

 would not be thus coloured by yelk of egg: the question whether the bird was an 

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