ee 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 3815 
coloured. The Grey Wagtail breeds commonly in Ireland, in some places 
more commonly than the Pied, but seldom lays more than five eggs, and 
I have never known one lay eggs of this type of colouring before. [The 
peculiarity of these eggs consists in their being more heavily marked than 
usual, with a greater confluence of colour towards the larger end.—Ep.] 
I also send for your inspection and observation four Blackbirds’ eggs, 
samples of four clutches of three eggs each, taken from the same neigh- 
bourhood, and those taken this season from the same gentleman’s demesne 
near Cappoquin. They were taken respectively April 10th, 1885; April 
26th, 1889 ; May 4th, 1889; and May 20th, 1889. Of these the first two 
clutches were taken before incubation had commenced, but the last two were 
partly incubated. I saw the Blackbird sitting on the third clutch (three 
eggs only being then laid) on April 28th, though it was not taken until 
May 4th, so that it could not have been laid by the same bird which pro- 
duced the clutch of April 26th. These facts show that in the locality 
where these eggs were found there is more than one Blackbird, and has 
been one at least, since 1885, which lays clutches of three eggs like those 
forwarded, and which are almost or altogether devoid of green ground- 
colour.—R. J. UssnEer (Cappagh, Co. Waterford). 
Drumming of the Snipe.—On June 15th, when ascending Ettrick 
Pen, in Selkirkshire, I had a good opportunity of observing the actions of 
a Snipe while “drumming,” and should like to draw the attention of the 
readers of ‘ The Zoologist’ to the appearance of the tail as distinctly seen 
through a pair of powerful binoculars. I do not know that I can better 
describe the general appearance of the tail than by saying that it resembled 
a fan about three-fourths expanded, with the outermost ray on each side 
detached along its entire length from the succeeding one, and pulled well 
away from it, so as to leave a considerable space between their opposing 
edges. It is to the outstanding position of these outer rectrices that I 
wish particularly to call attention. The fan-like expansion of the tail has 
often been pointed out, but I cannot find that anyone has noticed the 
existence of a clear space between the outermost feathers and those next 
them ; indeed Mr. Hancock (‘ Catalogue of the Birds of Northumberland 
and Durham,’ p. 107) takes it for granted the latter will overlap the former, 
and uses the assumption as an argument against the “tail” theory of the 
sound. It is of course possible, but I think highly improbable, that the 
bird I saw had lost the second feather on each side of the tail. If further 
observation should show that the appearance I have described is always 
present during the “drumming” of the Snipe, the fact may possibly help 
to throw some light on the vexed question, the mode in which the sound is 
produced.— Witt1am Evans (18 a, Morningside Park, Edinburgh). 


