NOTES AND QUERIES. 303 



Wagtails, and when it does pay us one of its " few and far-between " visits, 

 it generally chooses the shores of Lough Neagh as a summer residence. 

 Of four specimens in the Royal Dublin Society's Museum three are from 

 Lough Neagh, and the fourth from Baldoyle, a few miles from my observation. 

 The Grey Wagtail — a common enough bird in the city — is perfectly familiar 

 to me, and I have no doubt whatever that the pretty bird I saw at 

 Malahide was the Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla Rati. — J. Royston (35, 

 Bloomfield Avenue, Dublin). 



Cuckoo's Egg in a Thrush's Nest. — A Cuckoo's egg was taken out 

 of a Song Thrush's nest here the other day. It is the first instance, so far 

 as I know, in this neighbourhood of the Cuckoo's egg having been found in 

 the nest of the Thrush. We have taken several Cuckoos' eggs this season, 

 but, with this exception, all from the nests of the smaller birds. — John H. 

 Willmobe (Queen wood College, near Stockbridge, Hants). 



[The Song Thrush is one of the least common amongst the foster 

 parents of the Cuckoo. Other instances of the kind have been previously 

 recorded, but they are certainly rare. See ' The Ibis,' 1865, pp. 178 — 

 186.— Ed.] 



reptiles. 



Food of the Common Ringed Snake.— Mr. Stradling, in his very 

 interesting paper in 'The Zoologist' on the treatment of Snakes, states 

 (p. 248) that in the case of the Common Ringed Snake its " favourite food 

 is frogs." I may mention that I have, in former years, examined many of 

 these snakes, and have come to the conclusion that they prey chiefly on 

 toads, which I have found to form the most frequent contents of the 

 Common Snake's stomach. — J. H. Gurney (Northrepps Hall, Norwich). 



Ground Colour of the Viper. — I have often observed how closely the 

 ground colour of the Viper (Pelias beriis) agrees with that of the soil on 

 which it is fouud. On the Cotteswolds we have the white, red, and dark 

 brown varieties. I have always found the white variety living in a white 

 stone wall, the brown variety on the Fuller's earth and inferior oolite, and 

 the darker variety on a darker soil. — C. Witchell (Stroud). 



Origin of the Name "Gavial." — In last month's 'Zoologist' I observe 

 that the Long-nosed Crocodile of the Ganges is called by Mr. Francis Day 

 the Gavial. The prevailing name of the reptile in the language of the 

 Hindoos of the Ganges Valley is Ghariyal ; and it is my impression that 

 this word having been first written Garial in English, was in the course of 

 correspondence converted into Gavial by the letter r being mistaken for a v. 

 If my impression is well founded, naturalists may think it worth while to 

 adopt the correct transliteration of the Hindi word, and establish in their 

 literature the form Ghariyal. Mr. Day is, I presume, the author of the 

 well-known work on Indian Fishes ; if so, his experience of the Indian 



