9114 Birds. 
the difference which a careful observation enabled me to perceive in two sets of eggs 
which before seemed perfectly identical in size, form and colour. This has been espe- 
cially observable in the eggs of some of the ducks, at first sight apparently indis- 
tinguishable from one another. I am far from saying that this is the invariable 
result, or that, with all our pains and accuracy, the eggs of closely-allied species can 
always be distinguished; but I do say that in investigating a doubtful species the 
evidence of the well-authenticated egg is generally of no slight value towards either 
corroborating or disproving our opinion. And therefore, I repeat once more, let a 
sufficient series of the egg of the willow grouse be carefully compared with those of the 
red grouse, and the result of the comparison will, in my judgment, go a long way as 
evidence conducing to a verdict.—Alfred Charles Smith; Yatesbury Rectory, Calne, 
June 11, 1864. 
Partridge alighting on a Tree.—Mr. Stevenson asks (Zool. 8846) whether it was a 
specimen of the redlegged or of the common partridge which I saw alight on a tree. 
I can confidently affirm that it was no otber than the common partridge, as I had a 
very close view of it, both when it flew up and while it sat on the tree. The redlegged 
partridge is a rare bird here, and I have, never heard of its capture since 1860, in 
Stirlingshire: one was killed in the season of that year on the grounds belonging to 
Lord Dunmore.—J. A. Harvie Brown. 
Note on a Gray Hen killed by a Sparrowhawk.—About three weeks since a female 
sparrowhawk, a bird of last year, was shot in the New Forest in the act of devouring 
an adult gray hen, which it had apparently just captured. Both birds have been 
preserved by Mr. Wright, bird-stuffer, of Lymington, and I saw them at his house this 
* day. This is, I think, a remarkable instance of the courage and power of the female 
sparrowhawk.—J. H. Gurney ; May 26, 1864. 
Skeleton of the Moa.—I have this morning been assisting in unpacking and 
arranging the bones of a nearly complete skeleton of the Dinornis robusta, the great 
New Zealand extinct moa; but it cannot have been long extinct, for the leg-bones of 
this bird have the periosteum as perfect and shining as it is on the corresponding 
bones of some ostrich skeletons which I mounted about thirty years ago. This bird has 
several ribs on one side still attached to the dorsal vertebrae, in situ, as when the bird 
was living; the inner right toe has every bone in situ, with its cartilages, and the 
external corrugated skin of the toe just as when alive; a patch of skin nearly a foot 
square still adheres to the lower part of the back on the pelvic bones, covered with 
stumps of feathers still sticking out of the skin; some of the toe-bones show signs of 
decay, but the bones are not fossilized. I think some of your readers may be interested 
with this slight notice; I cannot give a more scientilic report, because I think it pro- 
bable that Dr. Gibson, of York, whose brother has sent us this prize through him, may 
wish to send some account of the skeleton to some of our‘scientific periodicals, and I 
have no right or wish to interfere with his just claims. The pelvic bones are complete, 
some of the cervical vertebra are wanting, the caudal are complete.— Thomas Allis ; 
Osbaldwick, York. [More on this subject hereafter— Edward Newman.] 
Eggs of the Thickknee Plover—In the early part of this month, in company with 
my friend Mr. N. F. Dobrée, I visited an extensive warren called Tollington Moor, 
near Market Weighton, for the purpose of obtaining a few eggs of the snipe: only one 
nest with four eggs was found, but we were rewarded by finding two nests of the thick- 
knee plover, each containing one egg freshly laid. The birds were seen and recognised 
in buth cases.—George Norman ; Hull, May 4, 1864. 
