THE ZooLocist—May, 1875. 4455 
or anything else, and not descended from any fugitive domestic animals.— 
A. H. Cocks; Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, March 20, 1875. 
[Mr. Cocks seems rather displeased with my scepticism in the matter of 
wild cats, but I sincerely hope that I have not exceeded the bounds of 
courtesy in my expressed doubts on this subject. I am willing to confess 
that I thought the Saffron Walden and New Forest specimens, as well as 
numerous other records I have received, open to question, and requiring a 
considerable amount of caution. I admit that, after all that has been 
written on the subject, I should be reluctant to decide on the claims of any 
individual pussy to be pronounced wild or tame.—Hdward Newman. ] 
The Whale off Happisburgh: Correction of an Error.—tIn my account 
of the Happisburgh whale (S. S. 4418) it is. stated to be a male: the 
specimen in question was a female.—T. Southwell; Earlham Road, Norwich. 
Blackwinged Kite in Ireland.—I observe that in a lately issued part of 
“The Birds of Europe” (Nos. 85 and 36, Jan. 1875), Mr. Dresser has 
quoted a letter of mine published in the ‘ Ibis,’ 1872, referring to a specimen 
of Elanus ceruleus, which was shot in the county of Meath, and is in my 
possession. Finding that there are one or two slight inaccuracies, both in 
the ‘Ibis’ and in Mr. Dresser’s quotation, I think it desirable that they 
should be corrected. I have written for full particulars to Dr. P. T. Nicolls, 
from whom I received the skin, and he informs me that the bird in 
question was shot about thirty years ago by a Mr. Horan on the bog (not 
Bay) of Horsestown (not Harristown), near Beauparc, to the south of Slane 
—a locality which at that time was an almost impassable marsh, covered 
with long grass and coarse aquatic vegetation, but which is now reclaimed 
and good sound land. A bittern was also killed on the same day, from 
which, I think, we may infer that the season was either late autumn or 
early winter, just the time of year when most of the rare birds are obtained 
in Ireland. Dr. Nicolls received the kite quite fresh, and, thinking it was 
a pied hawk, skinned and preserved it, keeping it until he gave it to me 
about five years ago, when, on referring to Gould’s “ Birds of Europe,” I 
saw at once that it was the blackwinged kite (Klanus c@ruleus), and my 
friend Mr. A. G. More, of the Royal Dublin Society’s Museum, who has 
seen and examined the bird, pronounces it to be immature, on account of 
some of the breast feathers being edged with brown. I believe that mine 
is the only specimen of Elanus ceruleus which has been yet obtained 
within the British Islands, and I shall be most happy to show it to any 
gentleman who may visit this neighbourhood.—John F’. Dillon; Lismudllen, 
Navan, Meath. 
[I have at the request of my Dublin correspondents corrected several 
small errors that appear in the record as printed in the ‘ Field’ of April 17. 
—Edward Newman.] 
