NOTES AND QUERIES. 15l 



Great Grey Shrike in Gloucestershire. — On Nov. 18th last a male 

 example of Lanius excubitor was shot at Lower Ginting, in this county, 

 and is now in my hands for preservation. — A. L. Clarke (Gloucester), 



Nesting of the Black Scoter (Oidemia nigra) in Sussex.— At last T 

 find time to answer your inquiries relating to the Black Scoter nesting at 

 Earnley Marshes, near Chichester. The brood last year (1891) consisted 

 of seven, and I purposely shot the old drake for my collection. I am sorry 

 now that I did not get any of the young ; I could easily have done so. 

 When I first saw them they could just fly, but only a short way. I saw the 

 two old birds off and on all the summer, withing thinking of the probability 

 of their nesting, or caring much about it. In August I flushed the family, 

 and shot the old male. Since writing first I have made inquiries, and find 

 that the Black Scoter nests here every year. I will try to find the nest 

 during the coming season, when you shall hear from me again. — Charles 

 Fowler (South Bank, Chichester). (Communicated by Mr. J. Anderson, 

 Hon. Curator, Chichester Museum). 



[This statement is so remarkable that we have applied for further 

 particulars. — Ed.] 



An Albino Coot. — On June 1st, 1891, I received, in the down and in 

 the flesh, an albino Coot, Fulica atra, from the neighbourhood of St. Osyth* 

 It was probably not more than four or five days old. The crimson and 

 yellow hair-like processes on the head were as in an ordinary immature 

 Coot of similar age. The legs were pale orange and the eyes red. With 

 these exceptions the bird was white. Retaining the crimson and yellow 

 on the head appears to me to be a curious circumstance. — A. B. Farn 

 (Mount Nod, Greeuhithe). 



An unidentified Water-bird. — I should be much obliged if you, or any 

 readers of ' The Zoologist,' could give me an opinion as to the species of a 

 bird I heard and saw on Llangorse Lake, Breconshire, at dusk, on a 

 November evening in 1889. I had just landed from a boat, after a shooting 

 trip round the lake, when T heard a bird-note that was quite new to me. It 

 came from a belt of reeds which fringe the lake near the landing-place, and, 

 on my walking to a point near the spot whence the sound came, I could 

 indistinctly see a small bird swimming among the reeds, but owing to the 

 darkness I was unable to identify it. I could not shoot, as the boatman 

 was in the line of fire, and it soon disappeared among the reeds. The 

 boatman, who was on the water on the lake side of the reeds, had a better 

 view of it, and described it as " a little greyish bird, about the size of a 

 Snipe." The note of this bird resembled the syllable " kik," rapidly 

 repeated about seven or eight times, varied by a clear whistle. I think it 

 must have been one of the small rare crakes, but, according to mv bird- 



