73 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



on migration, and during three weeks (Nov. I8th to Dec. 8th) spent in dif- 

 ferent parts of Norfolk — north and south — I did not see a single bird. In 

 Lincolnshire I saw no Redwings, and in Norfolk only two or three 

 on Nov. 19th, and a soliitary bird just over the Suffolk boundary a fortnight 

 later. On returning to Oxon I found both species abundant, and though 

 their numbers have diminished with the severe weather they have 

 remained up to the time of writing. Perhaps the big hawthorn hedges 

 of Oxon and North Hants are the attraction in these counties. — Oliver 

 V. Aplin (Great Bourton, near Banbury). 



Curlew Sandpiper and Spotted Crake in Shetland. — A specimen of 

 this bird (Triivja subarquata) was shot by Andrew John Garriock on the 

 lltli August last, in a meadow on Tingwall parish. It was in company 

 with several snipe, feeding among the high grass, and seemed very shy and 

 uneasy in its movements. The only recorded instance of the previous 

 occurrence of this species in Shetland is by Dr. Sa.\by, who states that 

 " one was brought to him by a fisherman in the Island of Unst, on June 

 7th, 1859." I have also a Spotted Crake [Crex porzana) shot by the same 

 person in the Island of Bressay, on October 7th last. So far as I know 

 this is the first instance on record of its occurrence in Shetland. I have 

 both birds now in my collection. — J. T. Garriock (Lerwick). 



Reported Occurrence of the Citril Finch near Brighton.— In 'The 

 Zoologist ' for December last (p. 490), Mr. Herbert Langton reported the 

 capture of the Citril Finch, FringiUa citrinella, near the race-course 

 at Brighton on the previous 14th October. A little correspondence on the 

 subject has resulted in Mr. Swaysland of Brighton bringing the bird to 

 London for inspection ; and on submitting it to Mr. Sharpe, of the 

 Natural History Museum, South Kensington, who has paid a good deal of 

 attention to Finches, he pronounced it to be not the Citril Finch, but the 

 Cape Canary, Scrhnts canicolUs. At first glance the two species are not 

 very unlike, and might be easily confounded in the absence of specimens 

 for comparison. In fact, both these birds as, well as the wild Canary, 

 Serinus canaria, or the Serin, Serinus hortulanus, have such a general 

 resemblance in size and colour that it requires a practised eye to discrimi- 

 nate them offhand. As all four have been reported to have been taken in 

 England at different times, and may be again referred to as occasional 

 visitants, it may be well to note briefly some of their distinguishing 

 characters. The Cape Canary, Serinus canirolUs, a common cage-bird, 

 has a bill like the Greenfinch, F. chloris, but smaller ; the forehead and 

 chin greenish yellow ; nape and sides of neck grey ; dorsal plumage 

 greenish yellow; the outer web of all the wing-feathers strongly marked 

 with the same colour. The Citril Finch, F. citrinella, in general coloration 

 bears a close reseuiblance to this species, having hke it a yellow forehead, 



