NOTES AND QUERIES. 383 
melting-pot. This is the first specimen I have seen in this country. Since 
writing the above I have obtained some other particulars. It appears that 
Mr. Barton, of Alresford Lodge, was informed by the pilot at the railway 
bridge at Alresford that there was a school of Porpoises near his house. He 
shot at several of them from a punt with his rifle, and managed to capture 
two. One was 9 ft. 6 in. long, and the other 6 ft., both being females. 
Another which he shot at got into deeper water, and was picked up next 
day by Harry Barr, a fisherman at Wyvenhoe; this was 9 ft. 6 in. long, the 
sex not noted. The crew of the yacht ‘ Valfreyia’ captured a fourth, also 
full-grown, and of this I sent a note. The fifth came into my possession ; 
it was captured by Abraham Collins, of Colchester, and, as I have men- 
tioned, was a female 6 ft. 5 in. long. So that out of a school of seven or 
nine,—my informant is not quite clear on this point,—five were killed. 
None of our fishermen have ever noticed similar specimens before, and they 
all mention the peculiar white beak and belly as distinguishing marks.— 
Hewry Laver (Colchester). 
BIRDS. 
Breeding of Pallas’s Sand Grouse in Britain in 1889.— At the 
meeting of the Biological Section of the British Association at Newcastle- 
on-Tyne, on Thursday, the 12th of September, Professor Newton made 
some remarks “ On Syrrhaptes paradowus as a native of Britain,” exhibiting 
a specimen of one which could not have been more than two or three days 
old. This bird was caught in the North of Scotland on the 8th of August 
last, and was received by Professor Newton the next day. He also exhibited 
a drawing of the same by Mr. Frohawk, which will be reproduced in 
illustration of the paper he has in preparation for ‘The Ibis. The 
specimen has been beautifully mounted for the owner by Mr. Cullingford, 
of the Durham University Museum, and Professor Newton stated that, so 
far as he knew, it was the first that had been seen by ornithologists. 
Sand Grouse in Fifeshire.—Mr. P. Henderson, of 20, Barrack Street, 
Dundee, writing on August 19th, says ;—‘‘ The Pallas’s Sand Grouse are 
still on Tent’s Muir, Fifeshire. I have seen them several times: they are 
not in packs, as they were last season, but mostly in pairs, and I think 
some of them must have bred there. The parties in charge, however, are 
very reticent in the matter, and I have not been able as yet to get any 
definite information on this point.” 
The King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) as a Norfolk Bird.—For 
many years this species had been included in the Norfolk lists, on the 
authority of Mr. Lilly Wigg, who stated that a female King Duck was 
killed on Breydon Broad on the 25th July, 1813. The occurrence is 
mentioned in a MS. book, in the possession of Sir J. D. Hooker, entitled 
