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NOTES AND QUERIES. 487 
Colouring on the Head of the Mute Swan.—In ‘ The Zoologist’ for 
1872 (p. 3112) there is a figure of a Mute Swan’s head with markings on 
it like horns. There is on a pond at Hethersett, near Norwich, a Swan 
with markings exactly like this picture. They are orange-red in colour, 
and are the result of the tint so often seen on the occipital feathers of Swans 
commonly supposed to be an artificial stain from contact with ferruginous 
sands or other red deposit under the water, which in the present instance 
has assumed the strange shape of horus, as depicted in the woodcut above 
referred to.—J. H. Gurney, jun. (Northrepps, Norwich). 
Additions to the Avifauna of the Feroe Islands.— Through the 
kindness of Mr. Edward Hargitt, I have lately added to my collection two 
Reeves, Machetes pugnaz, obtained by Herr H.C. Miller on the 29th 
September, 1884. The Ruff has occurred in Iceland, but I am not aware 
of its having been hitherto recorded from the Feroe Islands. In a letter 
lately received from Herr Miller, he informed Mr. Hargitt that an 
example of the Little Tern, Sterna minuta, had been obtained last summer 
in Feroe, which is likewise an addition to the Feroese avifauna.—H. W. 
Fr1LpEn (West House, Wells, Norfolk). 
The Yellow-browed Warbler in Shetland—aAn adult bird of the 
Yellow-browed Warbler, Phylloscopus superciliosus, occurred at the lantern 
of Somburgh Head lighthouse on the 25th September last. It was 
caught and forwarded to me for identification in the flesh, and is now in 
the collection at Dunipace House, preserved in spirits, as it was too far 
gone for skinning. It was sent by Mr. James Youngclause, formerly 
lighthouse keeper at Monach Island, where, by his account, a precisely 
similar bird appeared on one occasion previously. It was in company with 
a few larks at the time of its striking —J. A. Harviz-Brown (Dunipace, 
Larbert, N.B.). ° 
Montagu’s Record of the White-tailed Eagle in Shropshire,—Can 
_ any one help me to clear up the following mystery? Montagu, in his 
‘Ornithological Dictionary,’ says that the Sea Eagle from which he took 
his description was killed by Sir Robert Lyttleton’s keeper in Shropshire. 
On looking to see in what part of the county Sir Robert had property 
I cannot find that he existed. ‘There is nobody of that name amongst the 
Baronets or Knights in 1792. In Plot’s ‘ Staffordshire,’ however, there is 
this curious statement—that two Golden Eagles were killed on Cannock 
Chase by Sir Edward Littleton’s gamekeeper; and what is more odd, both 
authors say they were ‘feeding on a dead sheep.” Yet one cannot 
imagine such an accurate man as Montagu, even if the species were the 
same, calling Sir Edward “ Sir Robert” and placing Cannock Chase in 
Shropshire, especially as he says his specimen was accompanied by a 
‘letter from Sir Robert,” and therefore would have his signature attached. 
