224 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



its own exertions for a food-supply, it would doubtless adopt similar 

 habits of feeding. But if it is the difference in the food-supply that 

 causes the Cuckoos to lay eggs of varied types, I would ask Dr. Rey to 

 explain why the Common Guillemot lays eggs of such wonderful variety? 

 The food of one Guillemot at any rate does not differ from that of another 

 Guillemot. I would ask the same question, too, with regard to the eggs of 

 the Tree Pipit, a species whose eggs show a very great amount of variation. 

 — E. W. H. Blagg (Cheadle, Staffs). 



Colour of the Bill of the Grey Lag-Goose— At a recent meeting of 

 the British Ornithologists' Club, Mr. Caton Haigh asked me what was the 

 colour of the bill of a Grey Lag-Goose (Anser cinereus). I answered, as 

 probably many other persons interested in ornithology would have done, 

 flesh-colour. Now, this last winter I have had opportunities for examining 

 twenty freshly killed Grey Lag-Geese, and in no single instance was the 

 bill flesh-colour. All the ornithological works that I have been able to 

 refer to give the colour as flesh-colour, with the exception of Mr. F. 0. 

 Morris. I have looked it up in Seebohm's ■ British Birds,' Yarrell, Mr. 

 Howard Saunders's ' Manual,' Prof. Newton's ' Dictionary,' Col. Irby's 

 1 List,' &c, with the same result. All the Geese that I examined were 

 killed by me in March, and I took the trouble of catching some wing-broken 

 birds alive so that the colour should have no opportunity of fading. Each 

 bird had a lemon-coloured bill, almost pale orange, with a narrow flesh- 

 coloured line down the centre, and a white nail. Can the explanation be 

 that this is the colour only at this time of year, or that all these authors have 

 taken the colour from the skins ? for after the Geese had been dead some 

 days the colour became more as they state. I shall be very glad to hear 

 the opinion of naturalists or sportsmen, who may have had chances of 

 examining freshly killed specimens, as to the colour of the bill they have 

 found, and at what season of the year they have made their observations. 

 The weight of the birds killed varied between 6f lb. and 9f lbs., so that it 

 is probable that I examined both old and young birds. — H. Leybokne 

 Popham (21, Ryder Street, London, S.W.j. 



[Macgillivray described the bill of this bird as "yellowish orange, with 

 the unguis white or bluish grey." — Ed.1 



Russian Partridges. — I recently saw, in the shop of a local game- 

 dealer, some Russian Partridges with black horseshoes on their breasts. I 

 should be glad to know whether these birds come from any particular 

 district, as most of the Partridges sold as Russian that I have previously 

 noticed have little to distinguish them from English birds. — R. H. Rams- 

 botham (Shrewsbury). 



