NOTES AND QUERIES. 435 



its forerunner in 1855. It is also strange that almost all the occurrences 

 of this bird within the British Isles have been in the month of October, 

 when boisterous winds so often prevail from the south-west, whereas the 

 home of the "Cream-coloured Courser" is essentially the east and the 

 south (see Seebohm's 'British Birds,' vol. iii. pp. 63-1); but I am afraid 

 we are still very far from a knowledge of the causes which bring unexpected 

 stragglers to our shores. — Alfred Charles Smith (Old Park, Devizes). 



[The bird above referred to was forwarded for preservation to Messrs. 

 Kowland Ward & Co. of 166, Piccadilly, who obligingly sent it while still 

 unskinned for our inspection. On placing it in the scales we found it to 

 weigh a trifle over li oz., or the average weight of a Common Suipe. — Ed.] 



Cream-coloured Courser in Jersey.— When examining, while still 

 unskinned, the Courser which was shot in Wiltshire, as above mentioned, 

 on Oct. 10th last, I little anticipated the subsequent and speedy announce- 

 ment that another had been obtained in Jersey. I am credibly informed, 

 however, that on Oct. 19th a Cream-coloured Courser was shot in Bouley 

 Bay, Jersey, and was taken to the resident taxidermist there, Mr. Caplin, 

 of Halkett Street, for preservation. These two birds probably left their 

 summer haunts in company, and, encountering the south-western gales 

 which lately prevailed, got blown out of their course and separated en 

 route. — J. E. Harting. 



Common Buzzard in Montgomeryshire.— In « The Zoologist ' for 

 October (p. 382) appeared a note on the supposed occurrence of the Honey 

 Buzzard in Hertfordshire. As a matter of fact, the bird in question was 

 obtained on my property in Montgomeryshire, whence I wrote, and not in 

 the neighbourhood of my residence in Hertfordshire. As regards the 

 species, the bird was too hastily identified as the Honey Buzzard, for on 

 more careful examination it has proved to be an example of the so-called 

 Common Buzzard. I will therefore ask you to correct the mistake, which 

 I regret should have been made in print. — F. M. Campbell (Rose Hill, 

 Hoddesdon, Herts). 



Changes in Nesting Habits of Birds. — It may possibly interest 

 Dr. K. Williams and readers of his article upon " Curious Experiences in 

 Birds' Nesting" (p. 372) to peruse Mr. Charles A. Keeler's "Evolution of 

 the Colours of North American Land Birds " (Occasional Papers of the 

 California Academy of Sciences, iii. (San Francisco, Jan. 1893, p. 39), in 

 which most interesting treatise references are made to the subject loc. cit. 

 Many similar instances of these changes could be given ; and I think a 

 carefully accumulated collection of such as are ascertained facts would prove 

 valuable as an aid to study of the theory which has been advanced of 

 " inheritance of acquired characters" A starting point might be made by 

 Dr. Williams or others of your correspondents (or by yourself, Mr. Editor, 

 if you think it of sufficient interest), by publishing a series of quotations 



