NOTES AND QUERIES. 385 



the Meteorological Office in London will see that the centre of a great 

 number of the cyclonic disturbances which affect the British Isles pass near 

 St. Kilda and the Hebrides ; and it may be that this fact, combined with 

 the situation of St. Kilda and its freedom from frosts, affects the growth of 

 some species which prefer a very moist, uniform, and cool climate near the 

 sea. Whether the St. Kilda Wren derives any of its characters from the 

 same influences I am unable to say. Out of the six occasions when I saw 

 a Wren I only got a shot twice, but never saw the bird at which I fired 

 afterwards either alive or dead. My anxiety to procure one could not be 

 disguised, and as I passed by the houses daily " Dra-an-dhoun," the 

 St. Kilda name for the Wren, was frequently heard in the remarks of the 

 natives, who, I began to fear, had given me that nickname. Sandy Camp- 

 bell, a native of Skye, was the only man on the island, except the minister, 

 who could speak English, and he was the medium of every ornithological 

 query put to the natives. He did all in his power to procure me a Wren. 

 Naturalists will be pleased to read of Mr. Seebohm's success in procuring 

 such an interesting bird, and I am glad to learn from a letter received early 

 in July that Mr. Dixon, who obtained it, had Sandy Campbell with him, 

 upon whom I had impressed the importance last year of obtaining at least 

 one specimen of it. St. Kilda, as well as the Orkneys and Shetlands, are 

 all well within the J 00-fathom line on the west coast of Europe ; whereas 

 Faroe is separated from it by water 400 to 500 fathoms in depth. — Richard 

 M. Baeeington (Fassaroe, Bray, Wicklow). 



Green Sandpiper at Farnborough. — On August 7th, at a deer-pond on 

 the downs near here, I shot a female Green Sandpiper {Totamis ochropus) 

 weighing 2^ oz., and measuring 11 in. The barred tail-feathers and axillary 

 plume are the subject of a tail-piece in Bewick's -British Birds.' The 

 bird is rare here. Is it common elsewhere ? — E. T. Whitehuest (Farn- 

 borough Rectory, Wantage). 



[The Green Sandpiper is a regular spring and autumn visitor, generally 

 appearing about the last week in April, and again about the end of July or 

 beginning of August. On its return in autumn it often stays a con- 

 siderable time, frequenting small streams, out-of-the-way ponds, and marsh- 

 drains, where we have frequently met with it when looking for Snipe in 

 October. Occasionally we have heard of specimens being shot in November 

 and December, but the majority of those which visit us in July and August 

 go a long way south and south-east for the winter. — Ed.] 



White Carrion Crow. — A beautiful specimen of a white Carrion Crow 

 {Corvus corone) was lately killed near Brecon by Mr. Rees Williams, of 

 Aberyskii', and has been sent to Shrewsbury for preservation. Albinos 

 occur frequently among Rooks [Corvus fnujilegus), but are, I think, much 

 rarer among Crows and Ravens. Unfortunately this bird had been sent off 



ZOOLOGIST. — SEPT. 1884. 2 G 



