The Zoologist— May, ] 873. 3517 



the egg of the thrush in size, in colour, or in markings. I will add 

 only one other fact, that I have found a cuckoo's egg in a hedge- 

 sparrow's nest two years in the same hedge, which induces me to 

 think it probable that both eggs may liave belonged to the same 

 bird. As the facts above related are strictly within my own know- 

 ledge, you may make what use of them you please. — J. E. Brine 

 (Abbey House, Shaftesbury)." 



I do not think I can add anything to that clear statement, every 

 word of which I most implicitly believe to be true : neither will I 

 trespass any longer on the pages of the ' Zoologist,' at all events 

 for the present ; though I may, if I be not reckoned tedious, re- 

 turn to the question another day. 



Alfred Charles Smith. 



Yatesbury Eectory, Calne, 

 AprU 5, 1873. 



Appearance of an Animal, believed to he that which is called the 

 Norwegian Sea Serpent, on the Western Coast of Scotland, 

 in August, 1872. By the Rev. John Macrae, Minister of 

 Glenelg, Invernesshire, and the Rev. David Twopeny, Vicar 

 of Stockbury, Kent. 



On the 20th of August, 1872, we started from Glenelg in a small 

 cutter, the ' Leda,' for an excursion to Lochourn. Our party con- 

 sisted, besides ourselves, of two ladies, F. and K., a gentleman, 

 G. B., and a Highland lad. Our course lay down the Sound of 

 Sleat, which on that side divides the Isle of Skye from the main- 

 land, the average breadth of the channel in that part being two 

 miles. It was calm and sunshiny, not a breath of air, and the sea 

 perfectly smooth. As we were getting the cutter along with oars 

 we perceived a dark mass about two hundred yards astern of us, to 

 the north. While we were looking at it with our glasses (we had 

 three on board) another similar black lump rose to the left of the 

 first, leaving an interval between ; then another and another 

 followed, all in regular order. We did not doubt its being one 

 living creature : it moved slowly across our wake, and disappeared. 

 Presently the first mass, which was evidently the head, reappeared, 

 and was followed by the rising of the other black lumps, as before. 

 Sometimes three appeared, sometimes four, five, or six, and then 

 sank again. When they rose, the head appeared first, if it had 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. VIII. 2 A 



