76 THE ORNITHOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Two Magpies, both male birds, are to be found frequenting the Regent's 

 Park, in London . One was recently observed by us in the act of preparing 

 a nest near the Zoological Gardens. A keeper has informed us that they 

 are escaped birds, and that during the four years they have frequented the 

 park they have built several nests — apparently in readiness for the mates 

 who never yet have come. 



To the " Irish Naturalist " for May, Mr. Barrett-Hamilton contributes 

 some remarks on Mr. W. J. Knowles' interesting discovery ( Proc. R.I. A., 

 vol. L, no. 5 and vol. iii., no. 4) of bones of the Great Auk (Alca impennis) 

 in sand-hills (or more probably kitchen-middens) at Whitepark Bay, Co. 

 Antrim. Mr. Knowles remarks that "from the number of bones [of the 

 Great Auk] which have been found, it must have be^n a common inhabitant 

 of the North of Ireland at the time when the people of the Stone Age 

 occupied Whitepark Bay and other parts of the coast." 



Ihe May number of the "Naturalist" contains the Bird-Bibliography for 

 1892 for the northern counties of England, compiled and arranged by Mr. 

 Denison Roebuck. 



We have received copies of the following orders for the protection of 

 wild birds' eggs, additional to the list given in the last issue of the Orni- 

 thologist (for numbered list see p. 49) : Cumberland : — 21, 35, 39, 49, 56, 

 57, 58, 59, 61, G2, 63, 64, 68, 71, 73, 74, 91, 99, 101, 104, 112. Glouces- 

 tershire:— 7, 22, 39, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 68, 69, 72, 73, 74, 

 75, 92, 93. Dumbarton (one year from January 15th,. 1896) :— 53, 61, 62, 

 63, 61, 75, 89, 94, 95, 96, 103, 109, 112, 121, 123, 124, Wigeon and Little 

 Grebe. Also for year 1896 (after April 15th) 119. Roscommon (five yea-s 

 from May 10th, 1896) :— 5, 9, 11, 17, 18, 21, 22, 31, 40, 53. 59, 61, 62, 80. 

 83, 85, 91, 94, 96, 108, 110, 126, 127, also Hedge-sparrow and all species of 

 Gulls, Sandpipers and Snipe. Dr Trumbull, who sends us this last order, 

 remarks that the Nuthatch (22) has not yet been obtained in Ireland ! But 

 the same lamentable ignorance of the distribution of the British avi-fauna i< 

 displayed in many of the orders included in the list we gave last month. 



At the Zoological Society of London's meeting held on April 21st, Mr. E. 

 Beddard, F.R.S., read a paper on the " Anatomy of a Grebe " (JEclimophorus 

 major} and added some remarks upon the classification of the Charad inform 

 birds, to which he considered the Auks to be more nearly related th.m to 

 the Grebes. 



At a meeting of the Natural History Society of Glasgow, held in the 

 Society's rooms, 207, Bath Street, on Tuesday, April 28th, Mr. John Pater- 



