26 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



which we should rather expect ducks to be breeding, not migrating, and too 

 early for the flight of birds of the 3'ear. Against the theory of their being 

 all "escapes," I may point to the general absence in Ireland of a taste for 

 keeping rare waterfowl. If, however, any large number of Ruddy Shel- 

 drakes are known to have escaped last summer from any private water 

 I hope this notice will elicit a statement of the circumstances. — R. J. Ussher 

 Cappagh, Co. Waterford). 



[A letter from Mr. Rohu, for which we are obliged, confirms the account 

 above given of the two specimens forwarded to him for preservation by 

 Mr. O'Connell and Mr. Greehan.— Ed.] 



Little Guil in Co. Durham. — In reference to the editorial comment on 

 ray note of the occurrence of this species in Co. Durham (Zool. 188G, 

 p. 457), I write to say the bird is certainly a Little Gull, Lariis miiiutus, in 

 first plumage, and not a Sabine's Gull, as suggested. The statements of 

 dimensions, which I gave, are, I think, sufiicient to prove this, the length 

 of Sabine's Gull being given in " Yarrell " as 13 inches, while that of the 

 present bird was but 9 ^ inches — a considerable difference. I cau hardly 

 agree with the Editor's statement that the tail of the Little Gull is square 

 at the extremity. [It is so stated in the 4th edition of "Yarrell," vol. iii. 

 p. 592, as well as in Seebohm's ' British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 297. — Ed.] 

 An examination of a number of specimens shows that in the immature 

 stage it is nearly always distinctly forked, — as much so as, say, that of a 

 Grey-hen, — though not so markedly forked as in Sabine's Gull. Even in 

 adult specimens of L. minutus, when the tail-feathers are not abraded, it is 

 slightly forked. The feature is interesting, not only as forming a con- 

 necting link with the Terns, but perhaps also as pointing to a common 

 ancestry of both groups. — Abel Chapman (Roker, Sunderland). 



Montagu's Harrier in Notts. — It is with regret that I record the 

 slaughter of this rare bird in June last at Boughton in Nottinghamshire ; 

 an immature male, just beginning to asume the slate-coloured back. A 

 careful comparison of the wings of this bird with those of the Hen 

 Harrier placed its identity beyond a doubt. The contents of the stomach 

 consisted of the remains of larks' eggs in various stages of incul)ation ; 

 perhaps also, from their resemblance, there may have been some Tree 

 Pipits' amongst them. — W. Bkcher (Wellow, Newark-on-Trent). 



[These " hunting-hawks," as they are called in some parts of the 

 country, from their habit of flying low and quartering their ground like 

 pointers or setters, are now more frequently met with in England during 

 the autumn months. In October last another Montagu's Harrier was shot 

 near Hastings, as recorded in the present number by Mr. Theobald. 

 A Hen Harrier, Circus cyaneus, was shot by one of Lord Scarsdale's 

 keepers on the moors at Wild Boar Clough, near Macclesfield, eaily in 



