79 [Vol. xxvii. 



cii^cumstances. Oa making an incision, Mr. Pashley found 

 that the skull of a Lesser Black-backed Gull (L. fuscus, 

 Linn.), into which one end of the stake had been thrust, was 

 also within the gullet. 



Mr. H. F. Withe RBY exhibited an abnormally coloured 

 Blackcock {Tetrao tetrix), and made the following remarks: — 



" This bird was shot on the 10th of November, 1910, at 

 Clonrae, Dumfriesshire, by Mr. H. S. Gladstone, who very 

 kindly sent it to me. In skinning it I was able to make 

 sure by the condition of the skull, and also by finding two 

 unshed feathers of the juvenile plumage, that the specimen 

 was a bird of the year. I preserved the testes, which appeared 

 outwardly normal, and they have since been examined micro- 

 scopically by my friend Capt. A. E. Hamerton, R.A.M.C, 

 who kindly informs me that they are, in his opinion, perfectly 

 normal. The plumage of the bird is, however, quite ab- 

 normal, especially on the head, neck, mantle, upper breast, 

 and flanks, the feathers of which are barred and vermiculated 

 with yellowish-brown. In most of the feathers the tips are 

 normally coloured steel-blue, a few are entirely normal, but 

 most are marked in a varying degree with brown, some 

 having a number of broad bars, others a single bar, and 

 others only a thin wavy line of brown. Almost all the 

 feathers of the chin, throat, and cheeks have whitish-buff 

 bases and many are white-tipped. A number of the feathers 

 of the breast are irregularly marked with white and brown, 

 and many of the flank-feathers are vermiculated with brown, 

 as are the middle tail-feathers, upper tail-coverts, and some 

 of the feathers of the rump. The scapulars, secondaries, 

 and wing-coverts are also more strongly vermiculated with 

 brown than is usual in the first winter-plumage. The brown 

 markings resemble those in the plumage of the female, and 

 by some the bird might be thought to be assuming the 

 plumage of the female ; but I cannot agree that there is any 

 proof whatever of this, and it must be remembered that the 

 sexual organs were normal. In my opinion this bird is 

 simply wanting in black pigment, and this has caused the 



