4408 Birds. 



Note on the late appearance of the Common Scoter (Anas nigra) in Norfolk. — Under 

 a similar heading- (Zool. 3989), I recorded the occurrence of three specimens of this 

 bird unusually late in the season, the last being on the 20th of June, 1853. A few 

 days since I saw in the flesh a young male, shot on the Norwich river, near Surling- 

 ham, on the 1st of this month: this bird was just beginning to assume the dark 

 plumage of the adult male, and would, I should think, agree with the occasional 

 stragglers seen, according to Yarrell, between June and July, outside the rocks of the 

 Isle of White and in Christchurch Bay, supposed by him to be birds " only 12 ov 

 14 months old, that would remain unable to breed till the following summer." — H. 

 Stevenson; Norwich, July 10, 1854. 



Occurrence of Larus Sabinei, Leach, in Sussex. — During the severe frost in De- 

 cember, 1853, a specimen of this bird, apparently near the completion of its second 

 year, was shot at Newhaven, Sussex, by the gardener of Mr. Catt, of the Tide Mills, 

 near that town. I examined it very carefully, and found it to agree closely with the 

 description by Mr. Thompson, quoted by Mr. Yarrell in his ' History of British Birds,' 

 vol. iii. p. 425. It is now in the possession of Mr. Win. Catt, of Brighton. The 

 measurement was as follows : — 



in. lin. 

 Length from tip of bill to tip of longest tail-feather . . 12 10 

 „ „ to centre of fork of tail . . 110 



„ from carpus to end of wing 10 5 



„ from tip of bill to feathers above nostrils . . 10 



to gape H 



„ of naked part of tibia ...... 7 



„ of tarsus 12 



„ of middle toe, with claw 1& 



„ of claw of middle toe 1 



Depth of fork of tail 10 



Extent of wing beyond longest tail-feathers ... 14 

 — Wm. Borrer, jun. ; Cowfold, Sussex, July 7, 1854. 



Occurrence of the Continental White Wagtail (Molacilla alba) in Sussex. — A male 

 and a female of this species were shot on the 6th of April last, near the Chalybeate, 

 in the parish of Hove, near Brighton, and brought to me by G. Swaysland, of Cran- 

 bourne Street, Brighton, before they were skinned: he told me that he shot them near 

 some ploughed land, that they did not follow the plough like M. Yarrellii, that they 

 were much wilder, and that they had a hoarser note. On the 8th, another bird-pre- 

 server, H. Pratt, of Queen's Gardens, Brighton, brought me a female, a last year's 

 bird, also in the flesh, which he had shot near the same place, on the same day ; and 

 on examination of this specimen I found that the eggs were only just formed, or at 

 least showed but slight development. Swaysland has told me that that was the state 

 also of the ova in his specimen. On reference to my note in the ' Zoologist,' (Zool. 

 3908), I find the same observation respecting a specimen obtained still later in the 

 year, April 19, 1853. In the male specimen obtained by Swaysland, in April of the 

 present year, is a curious malformation, there being on one foot two perfectly formed 

 and very nearly similar hind toes: the other foot is as usual. I have little doubt, as 

 the bird is now known, that this species will be found to be a regular summer visitant 

 10 our South coast. — Id. 



