3882 The Zoologist — February, 1874, 



three or four hours we were in the meadows we heard the rails at intervals, 

 and long after sunset, whilst waiting for the evening flight of ducks, their 

 loud shrill cries were borne from the thick herbage and sedge which clothed 

 the banks of a neighbouring jDoud, sounding particularly distinct on the 

 still winter's night. I do not know whether the note of this bird has been 

 heard at any other time than during the spring or summer; but, as far as 

 I can learn, it seems hitherto only to have been noticed at those periods. 

 On the 3rd of January, 1874, my brother shot a very beautiful specimen. 

 The beak where it is usually reddish orange is brilliant coral-red ; and the 

 tints of colour throughout the plumage are more vivid and clearly defined 

 than I have seen in any other example. — H.Duniford; Stanley Road, 

 Waterloo, Liverpool, Januarij 9, 1874. 



Egyptian Ciccse in Piottinglianishire. — On Friday, the 5th of December, 

 1873, six Egyptian geese were seen on the Trent, near Clifton Hall ; two 

 of them were shot by the gamekeeper of Mr. J. Watson. The birds were 

 in beautiful plumage. This is their first occurrence in Nottinghamshire. 

 Since writing the above two others have been killed on the Trent near 

 Nottingham. — J. Whitaker, jun. 



Note on the Occurrence of the Greater Shearwater in Bridlington Bay. — 

 A fine specimen of the greater shearwater (Puj/'uius major, Faber), was 

 killed in Bridlington Bay, near Flamborough Head, by Mr. M. Bailey, on 

 the 10th of January ; and both this and the Sabine's guU recorded by me 

 from the same locality, in the ' Zoologist' for 1873 (S. S. 3802), have been 

 added to the collection of my son, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. The shearwater 

 is a male bird, and in very nearly adult plumage ; whereas four other 

 examples from the same locality, recorded by Mr. Boulton in the ' Zoologist' 

 for 1866 (S. S. 29) and for 1867 (S. S. 543), were all immature. The only 

 remains of immature plumage in the specimen recently obtained are the 

 following : — The under tail-coverts are fuliginous, but with each feather nar- 

 rowly tipped with dirty white ; the tibial feathers are entirely fuliginous, 

 and an irregular fuliginous stripe of the average breadth of about an inch 

 and a half runs up from the vent to the centre of the breast. There ai"e also 

 a few fuliginous spots on the upper part of the flank nearly adjacent to the 

 shoulder-joint. The following memoranda as to the colour of the bill and 

 feet were taken nine days after the bird was shot : — The bill is purplish 

 black, with the tinge of purple strongest in the lower mandible, but the 

 hooked tip of the upper mandible is bluish gray. The dark colour of the 

 bill in this species contrasts strongly with the pale-coloured bill of its Medi- 

 erranean congener (P. cinereus of Bree's ' Birds of Europe'), in which the 

 bill is also much more robust than that of the present species (P. major, 

 Faber). In the present specimen the legs and feet are of a very pale flesh- 

 colour, except the outer side of the tarsus and of the outer toe, and also the 

 outer edges of the claws and webs, all of which are dark purplish flesh- 



