5084 THE ZooLoGist—SEPTEMBER, 1876. 
was attached a stone and a fish’s head, when, upon observing a strange 
and very tame bird, which at first appeared to be in company with some 
“ dishwashers” (wagtails), alight in the water almost close to him, he waited 
an opportunity, threw his line, and knocked it down. This bird, which 
I have examined, is a small specimen and in full moult, with many of the 
chestnut or orange-brown feathers of the breeding-plumage still remaining 
on the neck, breast and under tail-coverts, but with some perfectly new lead- 
gray feathers appearing among the dark ones on the scapulars and back; 
indeed the plumage much resembles that of a young bird of the first 
autumn, with the exception of the mixture of rufous and white on the 
under parts. The dark feathers seem much faded, and all are white at the 
base. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun, in his ‘Summary of the Occurrences of the 
Gray Phalarope in Great Britain during the Autumn of 1866,’ mentions 
the early dates of August 20th, 24th and 29th, but I have never known 
them to occur in Devon before the middle or latter end of September, 
October being the usual time of their appearance.—J. Gatcombe ; 8, Lower 
Durnford Street, Stonehouse, Devon, August 11, 1876. 
Change of Plumage in the Moorhen.—I should be much obliged if some 
reader of the ‘ Zoologist’ could give me any particulars concerning the 
change of plumage in the moorhen. I had always thought that the male 
bird could be distinguished from the female by certain outward differences, 
such as the red patch above the bill, &c., but I think so no longer. In the 
‘Naturalist’s Note-Book’ for 1868 there is a very interesting article, by a 
writer signing himself “A. M. B.,” on this subject, in which the author 
proves—I think beyond doubt—that there is no outward difference what- 
ever between the sexes: he states that the handsome birds are aged, and 
the sombre-coloured ones are the younger birds. I may state that I went 
to a very clever, though not perhaps very scientific, birdstuffer, and asked 
him what his opinion on the subject was: he replied that he had often 
taken eggs out of the more handsome bird, and he produced a stuffed 
specimen which had all the reputed points of a male, yet he assured 
me that it was full of eggs. He then went on to state that the richly- 
coloured bird was the waterhen, or moorhen, but the other was the brown 
gallinule! He showed me a list of some birds he had observed, amongst 
which I noticed both the moorhen and his so-called “ brown gallinule.” 
I pointed out to him that the brown gallinules were but immature birds, 
but I doubt if he quite believed it. Mr. Gould considered the handsome 
bird to be the female and the other the male-—C. Matthew Prior. 
The Polish Swan.—Since the year 1851 I have had opportunities of 
examining a good number of so-called “ Polish” swans, and cannot agree 
with the opinion expressed by Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. (Zool. 8. 8. 5047) 
that it is not a good species. The breeding of the pair entrusted by the 
Zoological Society to Mr. J. H. Gurney, and those formerly in the possession 
