4664 THE ZooLoGist— OcroBer, 1875. 
of July the three young birds had all changed from white to dark lead- 
colour, remaining clothed in down of the latter hue, slightly tipped with the 
remains of the previous white dress on the extreme ends of some of the 
down plumelets. On the 28rd of July the young owls were observed to be 
beginning to show their quill--and tail-feathers. On the 4th of August the 
youngest of the three died, and was liberally presented by Mr. Fountaine to 
the Norwich Museum. This death reduced the brood to the two first- 
hatched young ones, which when I last heard of them were thriving 
prosperously. I paid them a visit on the 12th of August, when I found 
them well feathered on the back, wings and tail, but the other parts still 
covered with lead-coloured down.—J. H. Gurney; Northrepps, September 21, 
1875. 
Hoopoe near Norwich.—April 22nd. I saw a fine female hoopoe that 
had been killed at Horstead on this date—T. H. Gunn. 
Psittacula passerinaa—In Messrs. Woodward's notes on South-African 
Zoology (Zool. S. S. 4549) Psittacula passerina is included, and is noted 
as being “common in the neighbourhood of Durban.” Surely some mistake 
must have been made in the determination of this bird, as Psittacula pas- 
serina, as far as is yet known, is confined entirely to South America. 
Indeed the fact of the “ crown of the head being blue” prescribes it from 
being the species mentioned. Nor does this description tally with Agapornis 
roseicollis, a common South-African parrot of somewhat the same facies as 
P. passerina, in which the head is rosy red, so that it becomes desirable to 
know more of the species mentioned in these “ Notes,” which will I suspect 
prove to be one not hitherto recorded from that part of Africa,* or even a 
new species. Agapornis pullaria, A. Swinderniana and A. cana are all 
excluded, their heads not having blue on the crown, and it can hardly be a 
Peeocephalus, if much smaller than P. Levaillantii—W. A. Forbes; West 
Wickham, Kent, September 17, 1875. 
Wall Creeper at Stratton Hall—On looking through the mass of corre- 
spondence of Gilbert White, I have found the following passage in a letter 
from Mr. Marsham, F.R.S., of Stratton Hall, to Gilbert White, dated 
October 80, 1792:—‘‘ My man has just now shot me a bird which was 
flying about my house. I am confident I have never seen its likeness 
before. But on application to Willughby, I conclude it is the wall creeper or 
spider-catcher. J find he had not seen itin England. It is very beautifully 
coloured, though the chief is cinereous; but the shades of red on the wings, 
and the large spots of white and yellow on the quill-feathers are uncommonly 
pleasing.” I presume that Marsham was right in his conjectures as to the 
species, and as I have never met with any mention of its occurrence in 
England, we may give him the credit of discovering the Tichodroma 
* Agapornis taranta is recorded from Abyssinia, but, not knowing the bird, 
I cannot say whether or no it agrees with the above description.—W. 4. F. 
iy) ¥ 
