4762 Birds. 



Hen's Egg with Double Shell— At page 4703 of the 'Zoologist' a correspondent 

 appeals to your readers to corroborate a fact which he communicates concerning a 

 double-shelled hen's egg. I have much pleasure in stating that an egg precisely 

 similar to the one he describes was brought under my notice in March last by Mr. 

 Burrell, poulterer, at Hastings, in whose possession the curiosity was. I do not at 

 this moment recollect, although I took a note of it at the time, the exact weight and 

 dimensions of the egg; but 1 think the weight was something like six ounces, and the 

 measurement was something extraordinary. The hen which produced this monstrosity 

 was a cross between a Malay and a mongrel Dorking. For the rest, the description 

 supplied by your correspondent would apply equally to the egg to which I have 

 referred. — Edward Vernon Harcourt ; 20, Portland Place, London, May 9, 1855. 



Extraordinary Hens Egg. — The singular freak of nature recorded under this 

 heading in the ' Zoologist' (p. 4703) is not, I think, of such very unusual occurrence as 

 your correspondent seems to suppose. About two years since I was shown a very 

 large egg, laid by one of the Dorking fowls, which contained a perfectly shelled egg 

 inside, and I believe the remains of a second yolk in a fluid state; the interior egg 

 and the fragments of the outer one I preserved, being the first instance of the kind I 

 had ever met with. During that year I was told, on good authority, of a similar 

 abnormity in a duck's egg; and I have lately heard of another hen's egg laid in the 

 same manner. — H. Stevenson; Norwich, June 20, 1855. 



Occurrence of the Little Ringed Plover and Smew near Brighton. — In February 

 last my brother and self succeeded in obtaining several specimens of the little ringed 

 plover (Charadrius minor), and also a very good specimen of the female smew (Mergus 

 albinus), along the sea-coast between Cuckmere Haven and Seaford. — G. Grantham; 

 47, Western Road, Hove, May 19, 1855. 



Occurrence of the Bittern and Goosander in Northamptonshire, and of the Red- 

 throated Diver in Plymouth Sound. — On the 5th of January I shot a remarkably 

 fine bittern (Botaurus stellaris) from a small brook below the village of Aldwinkle, 

 in Northamptonshire. I only mention this, as the bird is excessively rare in the 

 county; the last instance of its occurrence in Northamptonshire with which I am 

 acquainted was near the same place, about twenty-five years ago. I saw and 

 pursued a female goosander {Mergus merganser) for several days in January last, 

 on the river Nen, in Northamptonshire; it was afterwards shot by our game- 

 keeper, and is now in my possession, stuffed. I shot a specimen of the redthroated 

 diver (Colymbus septentrionalis) in the Sound here, on the 5th instant. Is this not 

 very late for this bird in these parts ? This specimen had a few red feathers in the 

 neck. — T. L. Powys ; Mount Wise Barracks, Devonport, May 16, 1855. 



Occurrence of Buonaparte's Gull (Larus Buonapartii) on the Irish Coast. — On 

 Wednesday, the 14th of February, 1855, Captain Watkins, a brother officer of mine, shot 

 a gull on the coast near Skerries, about seventeen miles north of Dublin, which is 

 pronounced by all the Natural History Societies of Dublin to be Buonaparte's gull 

 (Larus Buonapartii), of whose occurrence I believe there are but two previously 

 recorded instances in Great Britain. The bird has been preserved and mounted by 

 Mrs. Baker, of Grafton Street, Dublin, and is now in Captain VVatkins's collection. — 

 Id. 



