144 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



and about the broken bank and on the grassy foreshore, I have iuvariably 

 met with Snow Buntings ; and it was worthy of remark that, with oue 

 notable exception, they showed very little white in their plumage. — Henry 

 Sharp (Southend-on-Sea). 



Effect of Thunder on Pheasants.— Referring to Mr. Rope's note on 

 this subject (p. 78), a loud report seems to have the same effect on 

 Peacocks as on Pheasants. On the afternoon of March 7th, as I was 

 walking through Kensington Gardens, there was a sound of firing in the 

 distance ; each report was answered by the shouts of the Peacocks. I have 

 on previous occasions noticed that a similar result is produced by the sound 

 of fog signals. — A. Holte Macpherson (51, Gloucester Terrace, Hyde 

 Park). 



Ross's Gull. — On June 1st, 1888, lat. 78° 47' N., long. 3° 6' E., we 

 were steaming north through ice. At the mast head all the forenoon, and 

 while there, a Ross's Gull passed close to the ship, accompanied by a Snow- 

 bird. The Gull had a pink breast and belly. The wings were also pink 

 underneath. It had the appearance of a Hawk coming towards us, and 

 when going away looked like a Tern. It was the only bird of this species 

 I had seen during forty-eight voyages to the Greenland seas. — David Gray 

 (Peterhead). 



Hen and Marsh Harrier in Sussex. — Mr. Bristow, of this town, has 

 just afforded me an opportunity of seeing a specimeu each of Circus 

 cyaneus and C. aruginosus, shot in this neighbourhood and brought to him 

 for preservation. The former was shot on Feb. 22ud, and weighed 19 oz. ; 

 the latter on March 3rd, and weighed 21 oz., both birds being immature 

 females. The late Mr. A. E. Knox considered the Hen Harrier to be " by 

 far the most generally distributed of the Harriers " in Sussex (' Ornitho- 

 logical Rambles in Sussex,' ed. i. p. 88). Mr. Borrer now accords this 

 position to Montagu's Harrier (« Birds of Sussex,' p. 26, where, strangely 

 enough, he wrongly imputes to Knox the same opinion). This author, 

 in stating that " Montagu's Harrier " is most frequently met with, was 

 comparing it with the Marsh Harrier, and not with the Hen Harrier, 

 as may be seen (op. cit. p. 90). So also the information from the 

 'Ornithological Rambles ' appearing in Mr. Borrer's work under the Hen 

 Harrier, would appear to be intended by its author to apply to Montagu's 

 Harrier. It will be remembered that Lord Lilford reported a specimen of 

 the Hen Harrier from Sussex in March of last year (Zool. 1895, p. 189). 

 — W. Ruskin Butterfield (St. Leonard's). 



Rookery destroyed by Crows. — We have in this village a small 

 rookery of some thirty nests, nineteen of which are in a single sycamore 

 in the Rectory garden. On March 30th, towards sunset, a pair of Crows 

 attacked the sycamore, and the next morning its inhabitants had vanished. 



