NOTES AND NEWS. 145 



Redwings. By niy diary, I find the heavy snow began to thaw on the 5th." 

 Unlike the previous occurrence in May, this specimen was obtained at the 

 end of a very severe period of frost and snow in December. — R. J. Ussher, 

 in the Irish Naturalist, August, 1896. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, commenting in the " Nidologist " on the question 

 of the changes of colour in the plumage of birds without moult, and on the 

 remarks on the subject made at a recent meeting of the British Ornithologists' 

 Club, remarks very pertinently that " the moulting of birds is, at this time, at- 

 tracting most closely the attention of ornithologists in all quarters, and it will 

 be for the highest interests of the science that collectors, instead of taking 

 male birds in full breeding plumage, devote their attention for a time, to 

 moulting plumages of both sexes, at all ages and every season of the year." 

 Dr. Shufeldt, like several other eminent American ornithologists, is, we may 

 remark, an opponent of the theory so long held in this country that certain 

 birds change the colour of their plumage ' ' through a pigment circulation in 

 the feathers." 



Recently the cormorants, which were brought from the Fame Islands, 

 nested again in St. James's Park, but although the one young bird which was 

 hatched from a clutch of four eggs appeared to be doing well, and would, it 

 was thought, be reared successfully, yet it was found dead one morning 

 recently in the enclosure. 



Mr. C. B. Moffat contributes a paper to the "Irish Naturalist" for 

 August on the " Quail in Ireland," dealing with its recent visits and with 

 its re-appearance in 1896 in the southern half of the island. 



As a further addition to the list of orders protective of wild birds' eggs, 

 which we published in tabulated form in the May issue, we may add the 

 following (for numbered list see page 49) : Dorset, five defined areas at 

 Wareham, Chesil Bank, Lodmoor, Lulworth Cove and St. Alban's Head, 

 and Poole Harbour:- 3, 5, 32, 48, 49, 80, 84, 86, 89, 91, 92, 97, 100, 109, 

 111, 113, 114, 129, 143, 144 and Little Grebe. Dumfriesshire and Gal- 

 loway (after April 15th in each year) : —119. 



The death at Shoal Lake, Manitoba, on July 27th (as the result of a most 

 lamentable accident) of Charles Doncaster Swann removes a most promising 

 and enthusiastic field-naturalist and collector. He was the younger brother 

 of the editor of this magazine, and was only in his nineteenth year ; he left 

 England four months ago. 



Vol. I. of Captain Shelley's valuable work on the "Birds of Africa" 

 comprises a list of all the species known to occur in the Ethiopian region up 



