NOTES AND QUERIES. 885 
in a case ata fish-shop in that town, and which he said appeared to him 
to differ from other Hiders which he had seen, and especially from a 
young male Common Hider in his own collection, but as he had no books 
of reference with him he made a mental note of it as “a rather dark and 
small Eider,” and suggested that it might possibly be an example of the 
King Eider. I had an opportunity of examining this bird in the last week 
of July,—-unfortunately after my article on the Hider for the ‘ Birds of 
Norfolk’ had been printed,—and was delighted to find it a young male 
Somateria spectabilis. I lost no time in purchasing the specimen, which 
I have presented to the Norwich Museum, where I trust it will long remain 
en evidence. The bird was shot off Hunstanton about the middle of January, 
1888, and was stuffed by Mr. Clark, of Snettisham, for Mr. Osborne, of 
whom I purchased it. It was seen alive on several occasions by the Hun- 
stanton gunners, among others by Mr. Tuck’s correspondent, Mr. B. Bowler 
(see ‘ Zoologist,’ 1888, p. 148). There can therefore be no question as to 
its identity, and it gives me great pleasure to restore the species to a place in 
the Norfolk list on such satisfactory evidence.—T. SouraweEtt (Norwich). 
The Extinct Starling of Reunion.—Referring to Mr. Sharpe’s remarks 
on this bird (p. 810), I fear there is remarkably little ground for hope that 
Fregilupus varius will ever be seen in the flesh again. ‘Thirty years is too 
long a time for any bird, particularly a very tame one, to have survived 
unnoticed on an island only ninety miles long, with a considerable French 
population, many of whom shoot, and a good number are constantly on the 
look-out for birds of value. Early in 1875 I passed a month in Réunion, 
with the express view of investigating this and other matters. It was then 
believed that the bird might still be found in the forests of the interior 
(although it had not been heard of for fifteen years); wherefore I availed my- 
self of the services of the best native “chasseurs,” and made trips of several 
days’ duration into the most promising forest regions, from about 300 ft. to 
nearly 6000 ft. above the sea. The French Colonial Government kindly gave 
me every facility, and authorized me to obtain any specimens I desired,— 
although it was during the close season,—with their usual courtesy, such as 
no naturalist, British or foreign, of however high reputation, could hope to 
meet with in this country. I made the minutest enquiries, wherever I 
went, of any one likely to throw the least light on my search. I explored 
the greater part of the island, sufficiently closely to be able to make a 
tolerably complete and exact map of it; and when I left, it was with the 
conviction that Fregilupus varius was undoubtedly a thing of the past. 
Certainly this conclusion was only arrived at upon negative evidence; but, 
after the lapse of nearly fifteen years more, nothing has occurred to shake 
it, and now I do not expect to hear of anything that will. Mr. Sharpe will 
excuse me if I correct a small verbal error in his article from ‘ Nature,’ as 
reprinted in ‘The Zoologist’ (1889, p. 811), viz., “ Necropsar rodericanum, 
