352 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Dipper placed in trees overhanging the Cumbrian river Eden. One of the 

 trees was an oak, the other a willow. The nests were preserved, and the 

 pair which nested in the willow brought off their young ones safely in 1885, 

 1886, and 1887. They may have nested there this year also, but I have 

 not had time to visit the spot this year. The fact is briefly noticed in 

 Mr. Howard Saunders's new 'Manual of British Birds,' and will be found 

 recorded in the ' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmoreland 

 Association,' No. xi., 1887, p. 29. — H. A. Macpherson (Carlisle). 



Varieties of Common Birds in Yorkshire. — A friend recently asked 

 me to call and tell him what a bird was, which had been picked up dead 

 and given to him : on seeing it I found it to be a perfectly white Lesser 

 Redpoll. During the present year I have had brought to me a pure white 

 Starling, and a pair of House Sparrows white with the margins of the 

 feathers on the upper parts rust-colour ; these were full-grown young birds, 

 and probably both came from the same nest. They are now in the Rev. 

 G. D. Armitage's collection at Lutterworth. I have also a white Sky Lark, 

 a pale grey and pied Blackbird, and a Ring Dove with a grey back, killed 

 in this district. — S. L. Mosley (Huddersfield). 



Shoveller and Rough-legged Buzzard in Surrey. — During March 

 last I paid a short visit to Guildford, and on my arrival some relatives 

 informed me that a strange bird had been shot by a friend of mine, Mr. 

 C. Laud of Horsley, and taken to the local taxidermist for identification, 

 but the only information that they could obtain was that it was some kind 

 of duck, species unknown. Being curious to get to know what it could be 

 I visited my friend the next day, and found it to be a male Shoveller, 

 Spatula clypeata, in good plumage. This bird, as far as I know, has only 

 been recorded a few times previously as occurring in Surrey. The same 

 gentleman showed me a fine Rough legged Buzzard, Buteo lagopus, that he 

 had shot at Horsley during the previous autumn (exact date forgotten). 

 This species has several times occurred near Godalming. — F. R. Fitzgerald 

 (Harrogate). 



Redstart nesting in a Thrush's Nest.— In June last Mr. Bell, of 

 Liddell Bank, Dumfriesshire, an enthusiastic field naturalist, was kind 

 enough to ask my friend Mr. Baily and myself to spend a couple of days 

 in birds '-nesting with him on the Liddell. I was detained at home, but 

 Mr. Baily went, and on his return reported the find of a Redstart's nest 

 built into an old nest of a Song Thrush. There was no doubt about the 

 ownership of the nest, for the hen bird was seen sitting on her eggs, two of 

 which were taken. On hearing this I suggested that the nest might be 

 acceptable for the Natural History Museum, and it has since been sent to 

 me for presentation there, together with the remaining three eggs. The 

 Thrush's nest measures about four inches across, and that of the Redstart 



