Birds. 2067 



Variety of Moor-hen (Gallinula chloropus).— The following description of a variety 

 of the moor-hen was furnished me by H. Haward, Esq., who killed it at Bramford, 

 near Ipswich, December 16, 1847. "The beak is greenish yellow at the tip, red at 

 the base ; irides red ; the back, scapulars and upper tail-coverts light chesnut ; wing- 

 coverts, tertials, quill-feathers and tail black, edged with chesnut; head grayish 

 black ; neck, breast and all the under surface of the body grayish white, inclining to 

 chesnut on the flanks and sides ; vent-feathers black ; under tail-coverts white ; legs 

 and toes green ; the webs of the feathers on all parts of the body disunited, having 

 the appearance of hair." — F. W. Johnson ; Ipswich, February 19, 1848. 



Occurrence of the Egyptian Goose (Anser Egyptiacus) in Sussex. — An Egyptian 

 goose was shot on the harbour at Shoreham on the 5th of January. This bird I ex- 

 amined before it was skinned, and it proved by dissection a male, and by plumage im- 

 mature. The gizzard contained nothing but fine sea gravel. The chesnut-coloured 

 patch on the breast was much less clearly marked than in the following specimen. 

 Another Egyptian goose, in the fullest adult plumage, was shot on the mill-pond, 

 near the church, in the parish of Shermanbury, on the 11th of January. It was ob- 

 served to arrive in the evening from the N.W., and rose immediately on being ap- 

 proached by the person who shot it. The bony enlargement at the divarication of the 

 trachea was rather larger and more truly ossified than in the former specimen. The 

 gizzard contained a small quantity of grass, and fine sea gravel similar to that in the 

 first specimen. The feathers of the lower part of the breast and belly were slightly 

 stained with that peculiar rusty tinge by some attributed to the action of sea water. 

 It is somewhat singular that both birds were shot on the same river, the Adur, the first 

 at its debouchment, and the second just above the point to which the tide rises, by the 

 course of the stream perhaps twenty miles as the crow flies, about twelve from the sea. 

 Both birds had every appearance of being truly wild. The weight of the last-men- 

 tioned specimen was exactly 5 fbs ; the measurement, from the tip of the bill to the 

 tip of the tail, 2 feet 4 inches ; aud that of the extent of wing, from tip to tip, 4 feet 

 3 inches. — Wm. Borrer, Jun. ; Cowfold, Horsham, Sussex, February 18, 1848. 



Occurrence of the Velvet Scoter (Anas fusca) and Common Scoter (Anas nigra) in 

 Suffolk. — A magnificent male specimen of the velvet scoter was received from Aldbo- 

 rough by Mr. H. Haward, of Bramford, in January last : the same gentleman killed 

 a young female of the same species, in the river Orwell, a few days subsequently. I 

 obtained a fine adult male of the common scoter from Beccles, in February, and have 

 since heard of the occurrence of another on the coast. — F. W. Johnson ; Ipswich, 

 March 1, 1848. 



Occurrence of the Surf Scoter (Anas perspicillata) in Shetland. — Last summer, in 

 June, as I was collecting through the north part of Shetland, I observed a very rare 

 British visitor, namely, a fine male specimen of the surf scoter, in " Rona's V^oe," in 

 company with some red-breasted mergansers. I tried to get a shot at it for three days 

 in succession, but was unsuccessful, as it always got on the wing before we could get 

 within gun-shot of it, and the fourth day I never saw it at all. — Robert Dunn ; Helis- 

 ter, near Weesdale, Shetland Isles, February 18, 1848. 



Occurrence of the Summer or Tree Duck at Tenbury. — A specimen of the summer 

 or tree duck has lately been shot at Tenbury, in Worcestershire. — M. Curtler ; Severe 

 House, Worcester, February 27, 1848. 



Occurrence of the Black-throated Diver (Colymbus arcticus) at Cullercoats, Nor- 

 thumberland. — A specimen of the black-throated diver in a very interesting dress, the 



