NOTES AND QUERIES. 425 



extending to some of the flight-feathers of the wings. I may add that a 

 pure white Starling was ohserved near Cumwhinton, Carlisle, in July, 1883, 

 by my friend, the Rev. J. Howard, and another; that on August 10th I 

 watched for many minutes, near Brough Marsh, a House Martin, of which 

 the primaries and secondaries of the right wing, and the primaries of the 

 left wing, were snow-white ; a white and dove-coloured House Swallow was 

 shot at Wigton in August; there is now a beautifully pied House Sparrow 

 in the neighbourhood of Wigton ; there are three pied House Sparrows 

 about Carlisle, one of which has been pied since I first observed it in 

 January, 1883 ; a pied cock Chaffinch haunted the garden of a friend here 

 in the centre of the town throughout the winter of 1882-3 ; there are one 

 or two pied Jackdaws about Eden Bridge (there were two in spring), and 

 two Rooks in our parish have some white wing-quills. One of our staffers 

 has a white Song Thrush, shot close to Carlisle in 1880. As I have never 

 seen a pied Shore Lark in any collection, I may add that I had a hen-bird 

 of this species, taken at Dover in 1880, which became pied in the moult of 

 1881, while in confinement. As pure white varieties of the Goldfinch are 

 very rare, I should like to record that a hen-bird of this species, in the 

 possession of a Mr. Hamilton, of Carlisle, has just acquired (Sept. 13th), 

 in confinement, a snowy garb of remarkable purity. Reared in 1880 by 

 hand, this bird, I understand, acquired in its first moult a sufficient 

 sprinkling of white feathers to make it an object of interest to its owner, 

 who this summer paired it with a male Goldfinch, which, however, ate all 

 his mate's eggs. During the last few weeks this hen, being apparently in 

 perfect health, has assumed a perfectly clear white garb, with the exception 

 of about six crimson feathers on the forehead, a very faint aud delicate 

 crescent of pale brown on the throat, and a very rich Goldfinch-yellow 

 " bloom " on the wings ; this golden colour is, strange to say, repeated on 

 the breast and outer tail-feathers, both of which portions are deeply tinged 

 with clear gold. The beak and feet incline from pink to flesh-colour. The 

 owner declines to part with this bird on any terms, or I should have tried to 

 perpetuate the variety ; but 1 have put in a claim for its body, if any mis- 

 hap should occur. From the perfect condition of the bird, it may live many 

 years. Its owner considers that an over-indulgence in lettuce leaves may 

 have assisted in procuring this totally unexpected change of plumage. — 

 H. A. Macpherson (Carlisle). 



Notes on the Ornithology of Northamptonshire.— The following 

 notes on the Ornithology of our county, from the beginning of the current 

 year, are given to a great extent upon the authority of others, whose names 

 I propose to state. I was absent from home from November 4th, 1882, 

 till August 16th, 1883, and during that period mainly dependent for local 

 bird news upon my friend and near neighbour, Mr. George Hunt, of 

 Wadeuhoe House, Oundle, in whose keen powers of observation and strict 



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