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THE ZOOLOGIST. 



were sooty. This last summer of 1887 two white cj'gnets were hatched by 

 the same pair of Swans, the other three in the brood being of the usual 

 colour, and I had the pleasure a few days since of showing all five, together 

 with tlieir parents, to Mr. A. D. Bartlett, who told me that he had never 

 known or heard of a similar instance. All these four white birds, I may 

 add, have been perceptibly smaller than their dusky brethren. The feet of 

 the old male Swan are not so fully black as usual, but otherwise there is no 

 variation to be noticed in his appearance or in that of his mate. It will be 

 observed that these white cygnets correspond very closely with those of the 

 so-called "Polish Swan" (see the excellent papers of Mr. Stevenson and 

 Mr. Southwell— the latter in Trans. Norf. and Norw. Nat. Soc. ii. pp. 258 — 

 260), but I do not now write to express any opinion on that as a supposed 

 sj^ecies ; I may, however, remark that Dr. Plot, in his ' Natural History of 

 Staffordshire' (pp. 228, 229), just about 200 years ago, wrote of certain 

 Swans on the Trent near Rugeley, whose legs were of a blushy red, like 

 those of tame Geese, and also of cygnets white as snow. — Alfred Newton 

 (Magdalene College, Cambridge, November 1, 1887). 



Knot on the West Coast of Scotland.— Replying to the enquiry of 

 Mr. A. H. Macphersou (p. 428), I may state that the Knot occurs far from 

 uncommonly in the West of Scotland, though not nearly so abundantly as on 

 the East Coast.— J. A. Harvie Brown (Dunipace House, Larbert, N. B.). 



Supposed breeding of the Great Northern Diver in the Faeroe 

 Islands. — In 'The Zoologist' for September (p. 351) Colonel Feilden 

 alludes to two eggs of the Great Northern Diver from the Faeroes (1880) 

 which were sold by auction at Stevens's on April 25th, 1887, and which 

 were purchased by me. I thought some of your readers might have been 

 able to give some information on the subject ; but as no mention has been 

 made in either October or November numbers, I should be extremely 

 obliged if I could obtain some particulars respecting these two eggs through 

 your valuable Journal, and hope these lines may catch the eye of the 

 collector who took them. — G. T. Phillips (Wokingham, Berks). 



Nesting of Montagu's Harrier in Dorsetshire.— At Winterboume 

 Kingston, on the 2ith June last, whilst a carter in the employ of Mr. E. 

 Besent, was cutting a field of clover with a mowing-machine, he disturbed 

 a large hawk from her nest, which was immediately joined by another 

 equal in size, but of lighter plumage. The sudden apparition of so large a 

 bird frightened the horse, but before the machine reached the nest, the 

 carter descried it. It was on the bare ground, about the size of a man's 

 hat, composed of pieces of straw (grass?) and feathers, and contained four 

 eggs, which were bluish white, with a few indistinct red spots and streaks, 

 and slightly incubated. The pair frequented the field and neighbourhood 

 for some days afterwards. Tln-ee were seen in a field of sanfoin a quarter of 



