2142 The Zoologist— May, 1870. 



months), have been in the sombre garb of ihe " dun diver" figures. I have regarded 

 tbisstaieof plumage as seasonal, as well as indicative of birds of the year, but the adult 

 oniaineulal plumage of tlie specimen under notice induces me to suggest that if 

 generally the less ornamental livery is the winter dress, -very old birds may retain the 

 full plumage perennially. — Edtvard Jlearle Rodd. 



Redbreasled Merganser near Oxford. — While looking for wild ducks during the late 

 frost, I was lucky enough to shoot a fine male specimen of the redbreasted merganser. 

 I found it near Oxford, between Sandford and Nuneham. Are they often found so far 

 inland?— G. O. Pardoe; Univ. Coll. Oxon.—' Field,' March 5, 1870. 



Rednecked Grebe and While's Thrush in Yorkshire. — I beg to communicate the 

 facts of the occurrence in this district, first, of the rednecked grebe {Podiceps rubri- 

 collis), which was obtained about a month since on the upper part of the Cleveland 

 Esk; and, second, of a bird which I have no doubt was White's thrush {Turdus 

 Whiiei). My attention was drawn to the last-named yesterday (Sunday) morning. 

 It was on the grass-plat, not ten yards distant from my study-wiudow, and I was 

 enabled almost immediately to examine it thoroughly by the aid of a very excellent 

 double field-glass. I suppose it was thus under observation from two to three minutes. 

 Again, in the afternoon, from the same window, I had a like opportunity of inspection, 

 and as the bird bopi)ed across the grass it came under observation from another 

 window, with nearly equal advantage to the observer. It remained in sight for, I 

 should say, four or five miuutes this second time. I had no doubt from the moment 

 I caught sight of it that it was not a common bird, and directly I had it in the field 

 of the glass I recognized the peculiar plumage of the Turdus Whitei. I see Eyton, 

 in his ' Rarer British Birds,' sjieaks of the fli;;hi of Lord Malmesbury's bird as " uniiu- 

 lating, similar to that of a misseltoe thrush." The remaik of my eldest son, who first 

 noticed the bird on the grass-plat, touching the flight of yesterday's bird, was, that it 

 was "just like that of the missel thrush;" the spontaneous remark of another 

 observer (quite un-ornithological), who stood by my side at the time, being, as regards 

 its size, ihal it was so much larger than the common thrush, specimens of whi<;h are 

 to be seen on the same gr.iss at almost any lime for the trouble of looking out of the 

 window.— 7. C. Atkinson; Dunlnj, in Cleveland. — ^ Field.' 



Horned Grebe in Cornwall. — Several specimens of the horned grebe (Podiceps 

 cornutus) came to hand during the late hard ^winter, frum different localities in 

 West Cornwall. All the specimens that I saw were wilhoiil elongated feathers 

 or fringes, and were, I presume, either in the first year or in winter plumage. — Edward. 

 H. Rodd. 



Grebes on the Coast of Devon. — Examples of the whole family of British grebes 

 have been obtained on our immediate co.ist during the past winter. In a previous 

 notice I mentioned the great crested and Sclavonian greties, l)ut since then specimens 

 of the rednecked, eared and little grebes have come under my inspection, all killed in 

 the neighbourboiid of Plymouth. Many years ago large flouks of grebes, composed of 

 different kinds (liut chiefly of the great crested) frequented the shores of Plymouth 

 Sound during a long continuance of severe easterly gales and frost, but since that 

 time comparaiively few have nuide their appearance until the late severe season. At 

 the time they were so plentiful (mentioned above) my brother and I alone killed more 

 than twenty specimens within a month, the skins of which we kept to have made into 

 tippets or muffs; but not knowing how to divest them of the thick layers of fat, they 



