314 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
misconception.” Mr. Seebohm approaches the subject with an obvious 
desire to weigh all opinions; but all that he can say in favour of Mr. 
Howse’s heresy is this, which I admit, that “yellow males occasionally 
occur in a wild state, and are possibly old and barren birds” (‘ British 
Birds,’ vol. ii., p. 36). I quote these opinions chiefly to justify myself in 
the eyes of your readers. Mr. Howse is hardly accurate in describing the 
nestling plumage of Lowxia curvirostra as “spotted.” I have had living 
nestlings in my possession, and the skius of others lie now before me; in 
these the lower parts are streaked or striated, but not “ spotted."—H. A. 
Macraerson (Carlisle). 
Montagu’s Harrier in Suffolki—About the middle of June last an 
adult female Montagu’s Harrier, Circus cineraceus, was shot by a keeper at 
Risby, near Bury St. Edmunds. It had been noticed about the place for 
some time. Mr. Travis, who showed me the bird soon after he had 
mounted it, told me that the ovary contained well-developed eggs.—JuLIAN 
G. Tucx (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 
Hybrid between Sheldrake and Wild Duck.— Mr. Gurney’s note 
on hybrids between the Sheldrake and Mallard is hardly complete without 
a reference to a passage in Thompson’s ‘ Natural History of Ireland,’ where 
similar facts are narrated. That author refers (vol. iii., p. 70) to a male of 
the Common Sheldrake kept “at the Falls near Belfast,” which paired with 
a female Common Duck for two or three successive years, producing a 
handsome progeny. Thompson appears to have been the first British 
ornithologist to record this cross; the late Mr. R. Gray was the first 
Scottish ornithologist to do the same, and it was in 1867 that he examined 
the North Uist birds mentioned by Mr. Gurney, though he only recorded 
the fact in the ‘Birds of the West of Scotland’ in 1871. I remember 
having some conversation with Mr. Gray about the facts, which I also 
enquired into, for my own benefit, of Mr. Mackenzie, who knew something 
of them. Sheldrakes are often domesticated in the North of England, but 
I have never yet come across the hybrid of these two species myself, and 
there can be no doubt of its extreme rarity. — H. A. Macrnerson 
(Carlisle). 
Abnormal Eggs of Grey Wagtail and Blackbird.— Having noticed 
Mr. Blagg’s description (p. 231) of eggs believed to belong to the Grey 
Wagtail, I send for your inspection two clutches of six eggs each, taken by 
me on May 18th, 1888 (a second clutch), and on April 4th, 1889, 
respectively. In each case I saw the Grey Wagtail leave the nest myself. 
No other Wagtails frequent my stable-yard and offices where this bird 
breeds. I have taken two clutches, of six eggs each, from this bird for 
two years,—that is, twenty-four eggs,—-all similarly coloured, and she has 
hatched and reared (or is now rearing) a third clutch of eggs similarly 
