428 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



clutch of six eggs of this species, on June 10th, near Bedford, and on the 

 same day another nest with five eggs was found by a lad. Since then a 

 third nest was taken with three eggs, all in the same locality. From these 

 occurrences it appears that the Lesser Redpoll has this year nested in 

 the midland and southern counties in greater numbers than usual. — J. 

 Steele Elliott (Dixon's Green, Dudley). 



American Golden Plover in Ireland. — On Sept. 13th I obtained a 

 specimen of the American Golden Plover, Charadrius virginicus, amongst 

 a lot of Golden Plovers, which had been sent direct from Belmullet, Co. 

 Mayo. The bird is an adult, retaining a good portion of the black breast 

 of the summer plumage, and differs from the European species in being 

 longer in the tarsus, and having the axillary feathers smoke-grey instead of 

 white, and a broad band of white over the eye. This species has not hitherto 

 been detected in Ireland. — E. Williams (2, Dame Street, Dublin). 



[The closely allied Asiatic Golden Plover, which is doubtfully distinct, 

 has been recorded to have been met with on two occasions in Norfolk, viz., 

 in December, 1874, and again in the autumn of 1882, as well as in Perth- 

 shire in August, 1883, and in Orkney in November, 1887 ; but we do not 

 remember any recognition of the American form in the British Islands, 

 notwithstanding its exceptional occurrence in Heligoland, as noted by Herr 

 Gatke. Some years ago we had an opportunity of examining and com- 

 paring a good series of the three recognised forms of Golden Plover, C. 

 pluvialis, C.fulvus (vel longipes), and C. virginicus (or, as it is now called, 

 dominicus), and of noting their differences and measurements (Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1871, p. 116). The colour of the axillary plume in the Plovers has 

 generally been relied upon as a good distinguishing character, being white 

 in pluvialis, grey in fulvus and virginicus, and black in Squatarola hel- 

 vetica ; but Mr. Cordeaux has observed that in pluvialis it is not always 

 uniformly white, but is occasionally more or less edged and broken with 

 smoke-grey (Zool. 1869, p. 1544), upon which we suggested (torn, cit., 

 p. 1601) either that the Lincolnshire specimen, upon which his remarks were 

 founded, might have been one or other of the exotic forms, or that the 

 colour of the axillary plume, being variable, could not be relied upon as a 

 specific character. — Ed.] 



Large Clutches of Eggs.— Seeing in 'The Zoologist' (p. 345) a note 

 by Mr. Salter in regard to an unusual number of eggs having been found 

 in the nests of the Marsh Tit (Parus palustris) and Willow Wren (Phyllo- 

 scopus trochilus), I send you a list of some clutches (which I have in my 

 cabinet, and also some I have seen), which contain more than the average 

 number of eggs. I hope other oologists will relate their experience on this 

 subject. The following amongst others I have in my collection : — A clutch 

 of thirteen Coot (Fulica atra), from Aberdeenshire ; seven Sand Martin 



