368 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the Petrel’s eggs was very large compared with any that he had seen. In 
1878 Mr. Howard Saunders remarked to me that the Fork-tailed Petrel 
might be found nesting on the islands of Kerry, but this is, I believe, the 
first record of its breeding anywhere in Ireland.—R. J. UssuEr (Cappagh, 
Co. Waterford). 
[According to the latest information (Yarrell, ‘ Brit. Birds,’ 4th ed. iv. 
pp- 38, 89) :—* Along the shores of Ireland the occurrence of the Forked- 
tailed Petrel has been so general as to render special enumeration un- 
necessary ; but as yet it has not been found breeding there.” In the next 
edition the lines italicised will have to be deleted. ‘There is no doubt that 
the egg forwarded for our inspection by Mr. Ussher is that of Thalassidroma 
leachii. We have compared it with authentic specimens of the eggs of 
that bird in the British Museum collection, and find it to correspond 
precisely with them, Hitherto this Petrel has been known to breed with 
certainty in only two places in the British Islands, namely, on the Stack of 
Dun, at St. Kilda, where the late Sir William Milner procured eggs in 
1847, and on the island of North Rona, where, in June, 1883, Mr. John 
Swinburne found it abundant. Mr. Seebohm, in his ‘ British Birds,’ has 
figured the egg of this bird taken by Mr. Dixon at Doon, St. Kilda, in 
June, 1884. Capt. Elwes was informed by the natives that this bird 
breeds on Mingalay, and Mr. Robert Gray states that there is a colony on 
the island of Rum, but no confirmatory evidence of this has yet been 
obtained. Mr. Ussher is to be congratulated on being the first to establish 
the fact that it breeds on the Irish coast.—ED. ] 
Variation in size of the Water Rail.—The variation in the sizes of 
Water Rails, referred to by Mr. Aplin (p. 338), is certainly striking. I 
first noticed it some years ago. I have four sterna of this bird. Two, 
shot respectively at Saddlescombe, Sussex, on December 21st, 1878, and 
at Chelmsford in 1879, measure almost exactly 1°25 in. ‘I'wo others, shot 
respectively near Easingwold, Yorkshire, in November, 1877, and near 
York, in the same month, measure 1°38 in., a variation much less than 
that noted by Mr. Aplin, though still considerable. These measurements 
are from the anterior extremity of the keel to the hinder margin in a straight 
line. In no case was the sex noted. I have also stuffed specimens, one of 
which, shot here by myself on December 8th, 1879, the day after the great 
frost, is a monstrous one by comparison with others. I regret now that 
I omitted to take the dimensions while in the flesh.—R. Mitier Curisry 
(Chigual St. James, Chelmsford). 
Three Cuckoos’ Eggs ina Titlark’s Nest.—A friend, who is fond of 
everything connectéd with country life, found three Cuckoos’ eggs this 
summer in a Titlark’s nest, and took all three. Is this not a very unusual 
circumstance 2? ‘This friend lives in a very wild moorland district, just the 
