NOTES AND QUERIES. 123 



Hawk — and I ought, therefore, to "know a hawk from a heronshaw." The 

 Hobby is larger than the Merlin ; the points of his wings reach to the tip 

 of his tail, and he flies higher." In reply to my request for further par- 

 ticulars of the one shot by him in Ireland, I have received a fuller com- 

 munication from him, dated the 11th December last, in which he states : — 

 " It is now about twelve years ago since I shot the Hobby in the 

 Co. Tipperary, near Bird Hill. It was a male bird in mature plumage. I 

 skinued it, but a cat got at the skin and spoiled it. I think it was towards 

 the end of September I shot it." Six instances of the occurrence of the 

 Hobby in Ireland have been noticed by the Editor in ' The Zoologist ' for 

 1877, p. 471. The above instance mentioned by Mr. Corbet makes a 

 seventh. — E. J. Ussher (Cappagh, Co. Waterford). 



The Note of the Manx Shearwater. — Injustice to Mr. H. Chichester 

 Hart, whose communication on this subject appeared in the last number 

 (p. 81), it may be stated that after it had been printed, and before it was 

 published, he wrote to correct his impression that the Manx Shearwater 

 was "a silent bird, in consequence of his finding no allusion to its note in 

 the books." A correction to that effect, however, had already been sup- 

 plied in the editorial note to a much fuller extent, and it was too late to 

 make further alteration. — Ed. 



Interbreeding of Blackbird and Thrush. — I have for several years 

 been occupied in collecting all the recorded cases of apparent interbreeding 

 between Blackbirds and Thrushes. I have now got notes of between 

 twenty and thirty such instances, which I am putting together for the 

 purpose of examination, and I shall feel obliged to any ornithologists who 

 will direct my attention to any obscure instances which are likely to have 

 escaped my notice. — Robt. Miller Christy (Saffron Walden). 



Hobby breeding in South Lincolnshire. — Mr. Seebohm, in his new 

 work on ' British Birds,' mentions this falcon as breeding annually in North 

 and Mid Lincolnshire, on the authority of Mr. John Cordeaux, thus leaving 

 out the southern part of that county. Several times to my own knowledge 

 it has bred there, and last year a pair took possession of a deserted Crow's 

 nest in a wood, but before any eggs were laid one of the birds was shot. 

 However, another mate was found in a day or two, and before again being 

 molested three eggs had been laid, wheu the female bird unfortunately fell 

 to the keeper's gun. — J. Cullingford (University Museum, Durham). 



Singular Accident to a Robin. — I was driving one day on the road, 

 when I caught sight of a B,obin by the edge of the grass struggling a little 

 and presenting an unusually odd appearance. On getting down in order to 

 look at it, I found the mouth wide open, and no sign of the lower 

 mandible, which, on closer examination, I found to be completely imbedded 



