( 417 ) 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



CARNIVORA. 



Seals in the Wash. — Tt may be worth recording that there still exists 

 a colony of Seals in the Wash. On Aug. 18th, when sailing in a small 

 yacht from Hunstanton to Lynn, we had a good view of a party of seven 

 lying on a sand-bank a few miles from Wolferton ; and, returning in the 

 evening, we saw the same, or another lot, near the same place. The day 

 was rather misty, but there seemed to be considerable variation both in size 

 and colour among the party. Our boatman assured us that they breed in 

 the locality, and that he had seen much larger parties on the sand-banks. 

 It is much to be hoped that these most interesting animals will not 

 be wantonly destroyed, or in any way molested. — Julian G. Tuck (Tostock 

 Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 



AVES. 



Variety of Song-Thrush in the New Forest.— In July a somewhat 

 peculiar variety of Turdus musicus was killed, and at the same time 

 another almost similar specimen was seen — possibly both of one brood — in 

 one of the woods of the forest. It is not mature, being about three parts 

 grown, and its tail is rather short. On dissection it proved to be a male, 

 and the following description indicates its unusual appearance : — Crown, 

 back, and tail almost white ; throat, cheeks, and breast pale buff, the usual 

 crescentic black spots occupying the central portion of the tips of each 

 feather being white, conspicuously so when closely examined ; wings 

 rather darker, more dirty looking than the back, but the reddish tawny 

 outer edges of the primaries and wing-coverts are very marked, forming a 

 double bar across the wing ; legs and feet pale brown ; eyes normal. On 

 several previous occasions I have seen white, or nearly white, Thrushes, 

 but they invariably had pink eyes, being albinos, as I supposed ; but none 

 were so near maturity as the one I have attempted to describe. A few 

 years ago I recollect a man finding a nest containing four young ones, two 

 of which were white. He took the whole brood with the intention of rearing 

 all, but both white individuals died within a week of their capture, indicating 

 perhaps that they were not so strong as their darker and more normally 

 hued brothers. The latter grew to maturity, and, being both males, 



Zool. 4th ser. vol. III., September, 1899. 2 e 



