MISCELLANEA. 305 



stage in the assumption of the male plumage ; the other has 

 assumed it so completely that but for the absence of spurs and 

 ear-tufts and the small development of the wattles, no one 

 could have suspected that the bird was not a cock. — E. L. 

 Gill. 



Wild Swans over Newcastle. — The following is quoted from 

 a letter written by Mr. G. E. Crawhall : — "On- the afternoon 

 of January 2nd, 1905, while walking up the North Road, I 

 noticed four large birds flying towards me, at no great distance 

 from the ground. When they got nearer I saw that they were 

 swans. I was then about opposite the ornamental water in 

 the Brandling Park, on which two or three tame swans are 

 usually kept. The wild birds, attracted no doubt by the 

 appearance of the birds on the water, seemed to hesitate in 

 their flight, and hovered as it were for a time, breaking their 

 formation, and turned back apparently calling to the tame 

 birds. Meeting no response, the swans resumed their flight, 

 falling into the usual single line formation ; but they changed 

 their course, flying to the N.W. till lost to sight. The swans 

 checked their flight when just about over my head. I thus 

 had an excellent view of them; they were all white birds 

 (adult). I noticed a peculiarity that I have not seen mentioned 

 by other observers ; when the birds were turning in their flight 

 they frequently turned their head from side to side, looking 

 about, and, I think, calling, (I am very deaf). The neck 

 was held straight and rigid, and the head turned only at the 

 junction of head and neck — much the same action as that of 

 the hand turning on the wrist at the end of the forearm." 



Hare Breeding in Confinement. — Mr. Thomas Thompson 

 sends a copy of the following letter, written to him by Mr. 

 Mann, of Aigle Gill, Cumberland. In some notes -in a local 

 newspaper it had been stated that hares will never breed in 

 captivity, and Mr. Thompson obtained this letter as evidence 

 to the contrary: — "Aigle Gill, November 23, 1904. — Dear 

 Sir, — I am much obliged for your letter and paper with regard 

 to the hares breeding. We were cutting a field of oats on 



