NOTES AND QUERIES. 313 
“A Nesting-place of Larus Juscus.” Last year I visited the breeding- 
quarters of the Lesser Black-backed Gull at a spot situate on the N.W. 
coast of England, and very similar in position and character to that 
described by your correspondent. The place in question is an extensive 
peat moss, about two miles from the coast, and inhabited by large numbers 
of Hares, Red Grouse, and a few pairs of Curlews. The Lesser Black- 
backed Gulls numbered about a hundred pairs ; their nests were formed of 
rough grass, and usually placed under bunches of heather : at the time of 
my visit, the end of May, they all contained the full complement of three 
eggs,—brown in ground colour, spotted and streaked with black. Probably 
owing to their being unmolested, very little variation was observed in their 
colouring, and in this respect they presented a great difference to the eggs 
of Larus fuscus on the Farne Islands, which show an endless diversity of 
ground colour and markings. I may add that the moss referred to above, 
like that mentioned by Mr. Willis Bund, is in the track of tourists, but is 
strictly preserved, and therefore fairly secure from molestation.—T. Ey 
Netson (Redcar). 
Wood Sandpiper in Suffolk in June.—On June 12th I put up a 
Wood Sandpiper from a marsh at Aldeburgh, Suffolk, about half a mile 
from the railway-station. Two days afterwards I saw a flock of five at the 
same place, and had a good view of them through a glass. Having in 
former years shot this bird several times at Aldeburgh, I recognized the 
note and appearance on the wing at once. —Jurran G. Tuck (Tostock 
Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 
Scops Owl in Co. Wexford.—A specimen of the Scops Owl, Scops 
git, was obtained at Foulk’s Mills, Co. Wexford, on May 81st last, by Mr. 
F. R. Leigh, who has presented it to the Irish collection in the Science 
and Art Museum, Dublin.—Epwarp WituraMms (2, Dame St., Dublin). 
Plumage of the Crossbill.—I am surprised to hear that the Curator 
of the Newcastle Museum still pins his faith to the obsolete heresy that 
the adult dress of Loxia curvirostra is of necessity a yellow dress, My 
own views on the subject may be right or wrong; but they were formed 
after an examination of a number of specimens, at a time when I was 
specially studying the Fringillide. At that time I referred to every 
authority I could lay hands on; and nothing pleased me better than a 
paper contributed to ‘ The Intellectual Observer’ by the late Mr. Wheel- 
wright, whose long residence in Sweden and Lapland had enabled him to 
acquire a large series of skins of this species. But Mr. Howse has only to 
refer to the second volume of the fourth edition of Yarrell (p. 202) to find 
that Prof. Newton, with every desire to give due weight to Mr. Hancock's 
opinion, has there stated that the view that the yellow dress is the 
normally adult dress of the Common Crossbill must be set aside as “a 
ZOOLOGIST.— AUGUST, 1889. 2B 
