Birds. 3979 



coloured, or very pale buff-coloured varieties are also common," 

 Yarrell, Selby. 



Red-legged Partridge. A nearly white variety of this bird is re- 

 corded as having occurred at Wolverslon Park, Ipswich, in 

 1850; (Nat. i. 142). 



Peewit. " White, cream-coloured, and mouse-coloured varieties 

 have occasionally been obtained," Yarrell. 



Woodcock. " Varieties in plumage are not uncommon, sometimes 

 with a portion of white, or entirely of a dull yellowish white or 

 buff colour," Yarrell : and Bishop Stanley says, " woodcocks 

 are now and then shot, of a delicate and uniform fawn-colour," 

 (Birds, i. 83). 



Common Snipe. A cream-coloured variety is recorded in the ' Na- 

 turalist,' i. 137. 



Knot. A white specimen of this bird is recorded by Mr. Newman, 

 as having been shot in February, 1851, near Maldon, in Essex, 

 (Zool. 3116). 



Land-rail. Varieties of this bird, with white feathers on the breast 

 and wing- coverts, and with white wings, are mentioned, (Zool. 

 2772). 



Water-rail. " A variety has been taken, which was pure white," 

 Yarrell. 



Moorhen. "The Rev. Mr. Lubbock mentions a curious variety, in 

 which the back and wings were mottled with white," Yarrell. 



Common Coot. " Varieties entirely white, and others only par- 

 tially white, have been seen both in Norfolk and Lincolnshire," 

 Yarrell. 



Puffin. <c White varieties occasionally occur," Selby. " Varieties 

 in colour have been known to occur," Yarrell. 



The foregoing list enumerates fifty-seven species of our British 

 Birds, the varieties in whose plumage have been recorded, and, no 

 doubt, the readers of the ' Zoologist ' can in some cases add others 

 from their own observations ; proving that white, pied, and mottled 

 varieties are not confined to a few only of our commoner birds. I 

 might have adduced many other examples of these varieties in the com- 

 moner birds, both from personal observation, and from the testimony 

 of ornithological friends ; but 1 have preferred, as far as possible, to 

 quote from Mr. Yarrell, Mr. Selby, and other ornithologists, whose 

 authority is undoubted, and whose books bear witness to the instan- 

 ces adduced by me. 



