NOTKS AND QUERIES. 195 



this district (so far as I am aware) was on October 25th, when Mr. Rowling 

 saw one in High Harrogate, and I observed three in Low Harrogate. — 

 F. R. Fitzgerald (Harrogate). 



The Green-backed Porphyrio (Porphyrio chloronotus).— I should be 

 much obliged if any correspondent, who may happen to know its where- 

 abouts, will say where a Porphyrio, shot at Grange in Furness, Lancashire, 

 on September 25th, 1876, now is. It was recorded in ' The Zoologist ' by 

 Mr. Harting (1877, p. 228), and by Mr. E. T. Baldwin, p. 381. Robert 

 Allen, the keeper who shot it, died in America last May, and it is possible 

 that he took the bird to America with him, but it is much more likely, I 

 think, that he sold it to some collector before crossing the Atlantic. About 

 ten days before this bird was killed a Green-backed Porphyrio, showing no 

 trace of confinement, and now in Mr. J. G. Millais's collection, was shot 

 at Eriol, in Perthshire (Drummond Hay, 'Scottish Naturalist,' 1877, 

 p. 37j; while about fifteen days afterwards a third was killed in Norfolk 

 (Zool. 1877, pp. 96, 228). These facts point to wild migrants, and not to 

 prisoners escaped from any aviary, especially as it was just the migratory 

 season, and the three localities are so far apart, assuming that the 

 Lancashire bird was the green-backed species, which is what I wish to 

 ascertain. Unfortunately that cannot now be proved, unless the specimen 

 can be examined. Two of the witnesses who saw it think its back was 

 green, and two others think it was blue. The Green-backed Porphyrio 

 apparently has a good claim to be considered a visitant to the South of 

 Europe. Mr. Dresser says, on the authority of Baron vou Miiller, that 

 six were caught at once in the South of France (' Birds of Europe,' vol. vii. 

 p. 303); and I learn from Prof. Giglioli that in the autumn of 1865 four 

 were taken at Messina, and that, including these, there are twelve well- 

 authenticated instances of its capture in Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. Of 

 some of these he has given particulars f' The Ibis,' 1881, p. 211), but does 

 not suggest that they may have escaped from confinement. — J. H. Gurney, 

 JuN. (Keswick Hall, Norwich). 



White-eyed Pochard and Bewick's Swan in Norfolk. — An adult male 

 White-eyed Pochard [Anas nyrocci) was shot at Potter Heigham on Dec. 

 29th ult. ; it was flying singly down the river. Three Bewick Swans were 

 shot here (at Heigham) last winter. — M. C. H. Bird (West Rudham, 

 Swaffham, Norfolk). 



The Sheldrake or " Bar-goose " on the Essex Coast. — This bird is 

 still called "Bur-goose" by Essex shore-slioolers and puut-gunueis. It 

 appears to be a late breeder. One killed off Canvey Island a few years 

 ago on May 9th had no down off the breast, although the feathers there 

 were dirty, as if she had been burrowing, and the most fully-developed egg 

 in the ovary was not so large as a pea. I have not heard the term " Bar- 



