NOTES AND QUERIES. S7 



November last ; and on the 30th of the same month a Marsh Harrier, 

 Circus arnginosus, was killed in a marsh near Christchurch, Hants. 

 Montagu's Harrier is perhaps nowadaj's the commonest of the three species 

 in England. A most interesting account of the breeding of the Hen 

 Harrier in Lincolnshire sixty years ago will be found in ' The Field ' of the 

 4th December last. — Ed.] 



Blackcap in Co. Waterford in December.— On Dec. 5th, 1886, as I 

 was strolling through a fir plantation here, I saw to my amazement a male 

 Blackcap fly up and perch within a few yards of me. I had a good stare 

 at him, for he was not particularly shy. There was no mistaking the 

 species; top of head jet black, mantle slaty, under parts pale grey. He 

 busied himself searching the branches of the Scotch firs. The season has 

 been very mild hitherto, without any frost worth mentioning. On 

 December 18th, 1856, I found a male Blackcap, recently dead, here, and a 

 pair bred in 1885, near Clashmore (Zool. 1885, p. 261). These are the 

 only instances in which I have undoubtedly met with Blackcaps here, 

 though they seem to be regular visitants in small numbers to Co. Wicklow, 

 which is nearer to the sources of immigration. How striking is the 

 abundance in this part of Ireland of the Whitethroat, the Sedge and 

 Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff, especially of the last, as contrasted with 

 the absence of so many other insect-finding summer migrants, as the 

 Whinchat, Redstart, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed and 

 Wood Warblers, Ray's Wagtail, and Tree Pipit, which I have never met 

 with ! How these arbitrary distinctions of breeding-range among kindred 

 species show that migration is an inherited habit ! — R. J. Ussher (Cappagh, 

 Co. Waterford). 



Storm Petrel in London. — At the last meeting of the Linnean Society, 

 held at Burlington House on December 16th, a Storm Petrel was exhibited, 

 which had been picked up on Dec. 9th in an exhausted state near the 

 Serpentine in Kensington Gardens. Its appearance so far from the sea is 

 doubtless to be accounted for by the very tempestuous weather which 

 prevailed about that date. — J. E. Harting. 



Red-throated Diver breeding in Co. Donegal. — Mr H. M. Wallis con- 

 cludes his notice of the Tree Sparrow at Aranmore (Zool. 1886, p. 489) by the 

 following allusion to this much more interesting species, which cannot, like 

 the Tree Sparrow, be of recent introduction. He says, " I found the Red- 

 throated Diver breeding on the mainland (Co. Donegal), but this I think 

 you recorded last year." It appeared from the notice referred to (Zool. 

 1885, p. 348) that Mr. Lloyd Patterson received from Co. Donegal eggs 

 which were identified as those of the Red-throated Diver, the first evidence 

 recorded of the species breeding in Ireland. As Mr. Wallis is able tooff'cr 

 fresh information on the subject, I trust he will favour the readers of ' The 



