72 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Unusual Variety of the Common Sandpiper.— Through the gift of 

 Mr. Backhouse, juD., of York, I have been able to add to my collection of 

 varieties a specimen of the Common Sandpiper with white wings, the rest 

 of the plumage being of the ordinary colour. — J. Whitaker. 



Recent occurrence of the Crane in Co. Mayo. — I am indebted to 

 the kindness of Mr. John C. Hearne, of Killoshine Cottage, near Ballinrobe, 

 for a specimen of the Crane, Grus communis, recently shot near Lough 

 Mask. It was an immature male, and weighed in the flesh, when 

 I received it on January 5th, eleven pounds. It measured, from bill to tail, 

 3 ft. 6i in. ; from bill to longest toe, 4 ft. 7 in. ; spread of wings, 6 ft. 9 in. ; 

 from carpal joint to end of longest primary, 1 ft. 10 in. The beak was of a 

 yellowish honi-colour; the irides, which were narrow, were yellowish, as far 

 as I could judge in the sunken condition of the orbits. There is no black 

 nor white on the plumage of the head, which has a tinge of brownish bufif, 

 and the feathers of the back have brown mingled with the general grey 

 colour of the plumage. The tertial plumes are not developed. Messrs. 

 Williams & Son, of Dublin, in whose hands I have placed it, inform 

 me that the stomach contained some small freshwater snail-shells. 

 Mr. Hearne wrote to me on the 2nd of January that he had shot it on 

 the previous day near Lough Mask and the mountains. He saw it alight 

 with another on a stubble-field. In a note by Dr. Harvey, referring to the 

 Crane in the museum of Queen's College, Cork, he states that it was 

 "from Annah Bog, Kiiisale, shot on the 17th November, 1851, by Com- 

 mander Douglas." He adds: — "Of four which were seen three were 

 obtained; two, I understand both males, were sent to the Dublin Natural 

 History Society. I know of no other instance of the occurrence of the bird 

 in Ireland since the great frost of 173'J, when one was taken in Cork 

 Harbour." Smith, in his 'Natural History of Waterford' (p. 336), states 

 that in 173'J Cranes were seen in the counties of Cork and Waterford. 

 Two instances of its occurrence in Ireland within the present century are 

 mentioned by Thompson (vol. ii. p. 132), and he quotes Geraldus Cam- 

 brensis to show that in the days of that writer flocks of a hundred Cranes 

 were frequently to be seen. See also ' Zoologist,' 1881, p. 130. The two 

 male birds mentioned above as shot in 1851 are now in the Museum of 

 Science and Art, Dublin. — R. J. Ussheu (Cappagh, Co. Waterford). 



Breeding of Redshank in North Yorkshire.— On the 9th April last 

 a pair of Redshanks made their appearance in a large marshy field here, 

 and seemed to find abundance of food, as they could always be seen there. 

 Oil the 13th May I found tlie nest of the birds in the centre of the 

 enclosure. The eggs, four in number, were snugly concealed in an over- 

 hanging tuft of grass, and a few pieces of bent and grass only intervened 

 between tliem and the ground: they were very richly marked specimens. 



