17k the zoologist. 



aud uo doubt greatly retarding the power of flight. If every case of 

 hybernatingCorn Crakes were earefully examined, we should probably find 

 some malformation or injury fully accounting for the reason of not migrating, 

 and that it is not from inclination that this species sometimes stays the 

 winter, but simply from inability to leave the country. — E. M. Chase 

 (Edgbaston, Birmingham). 



Crested Lark breeding in England. — In the course of correspondence 

 with Mr. Doggett, taxidermist, of Cambridge, who received in the flesh for 

 preservation the specimen of the Short-toed Lark which was captured by a 

 birdcatcher near Cambridge in November last, as already recorded (p. 33), 

 he informed me that he then had in his possession alive an example of 

 Alauda aist<tt<t which had been taken more than two years previously from 

 a nest at Ibiston, near Cambridge. Some half-dozen instances of the 

 occurrence of this bird in the British Islands have been noted since 18S6, 

 when one was obtained in Ireland ; but no instance of its breeding here 

 has hitherto been recorded, although the fact of its occasionally doing so 

 may well have been overlooked from its similarity to the commoner arvensis. 

 — J E. Harting. 



Hybrid Song Birds. — Referring to my former note on this subject 

 (p. 127), I may remark that hybrids between Linnet and Goldlinch, Linnet 

 and Lesser Eedpole, Linnet and Bullfinch, and Bullfinch and Goldfinch 

 were exhibited in February last at the Crystal Palace Bird Show. Mr. 

 Verrall, of Lewes, lias also paired the Twite with the Greenfinch in his 

 aviary, and a wild-bred hybrid between the Goldfinch and Greenfinch is 

 now in West London. In referring to hybrids between Linnet and Green- 

 finch (p. Iv>7), I forgot to allude to the hybrid of this description recorded 

 in the first volume of Mr. Stevenson's 'Birds of Norfolk.' — H. A. 

 Maophkrson (Carlisle). 



Notes from Gibraltar: Correction of Error. — In my Notes from 

 Gibraltar (p. 1(H)} there is an unfortunate transposition which alters the 

 meaning of the first paragraph. It should read : — " Being at Gibraltar 

 during the spring of 188JJ, I paid particular attention to the vernal migra- 

 tion, visiting Tangiers, an excellent place for observation, from 28th March 

 to 5th April, again from 24th to 30th April, and from 25th to 30th May." 

 — E. F. Beecher. 



Great Grey Shrike in Suffolk.— Mr. J. E. Taylor, of the Ipswich 

 Museum, in a note on this bird in the March number (p. 125), makes the 

 misleading statement that " it is believed to be the only specimen killed 

 here for many years past." Within the last lew mouths I have seen one 

 in the flesh and heard of another, both shot near here, and others have been 

 obtained in years past iu this neighbourhood. — Hugh Turner (Ipswich). 



