228 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



black-brown ; tail-feathers buff, with dark brown centres ; small wing-coverts 

 white, except a few in the middle and towards the greater-coverts, which 

 are tipped with blackish brown ; innermost greater-coverts purplish brown, 

 margined with white; secondaries nearly white on the inner webs; outer 

 webs purplish brown (forming the speculum) : inner secondaries rich brown, 

 tipped with white, the innermost one all white ; primaries all white ; breast 

 above and sides clear pale buff; belly pale lemon-yellow ; under tail-coverts 

 buff; legs and feet as in the type. The other specimen has the crown of 

 head and cheeks normal in colour ; all the rest of the head and neck and 

 base of bill white ; upper part of back white ; the rest of the back and 

 scapulars normal; tail slightly pale, varied with white; point of wing 

 normal ; the rest of greater and lesser wing-coverts white, except a few of the 

 innermost ones ; secondaries white, except the two innermost, which are 

 purple as in the type; inner secondaries normal; primaries all white; 

 re secondaries, this only applies to one wing, the other has the first half 

 purple and the rest white — reversing the order ; chin and throat white ; 

 lower part of neck and breast yellowish white, with a patch of normal 

 colour on each side near the point of wing ; belly white, with a patch of 

 normal colour each side above the legs ; thighs brown ; legs and feet as the 

 type. — Wm. Farren (9, Union Road, Cambridge). 



Nesting of the Black Scoter, Oidemia nigra, in Sussex.— Pardon 

 my delay in reply to your queries respecting the Black Scoter in Sussex 

 (p. 151). I have been from home. Mr. Fowler has sent me the bird, and 

 I have it now. There is no doubt as to its being the Black Scoter, Oidemia 

 nigra. He says that he saw the brood the first or second week in August, 

 1891. He is well known to me, and, besides being a keen sportsman, is 

 a very observant naturalist. These are all the particulars I can give you 

 at present; but Mr. Fowler hopes to prove beyond all doubt the truth of 

 his communication by discovering the eggs during the coming season. — 

 Joseph Anderson, Jun. (Hon. Curator, Chichester Museum). 



Ivory Gull in Co. Dublin. — It may be of interest to some of your 

 readers to learn that on April 19th last, while driving from the Phoenix 

 Park to O'Counell Bridge, in Dublin, we saw an Ivory Gull, Larus 

 ebumeus. This bird, which attracted our attention by its pure white 

 plumage, was feeding, among the usual throng of Common and Black-headed 

 Gulls, ou the garbage of the Liffey — the tide being low — just above Grattan 

 Bridge, and many times flew, hovering and swooping, so close to us that 

 the dark base of its bill was very conspicuous. So far as we could judge, 

 it appeared on comparison the same size as the Common Gull, L. canus. — 

 E. G. Waddilove (21, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn); S. V. Cooke (Naas). 



Pied Rooks. — Nearly every season I notice one or more Pied Rooks 

 around here. One bird in particular might almost be mistaken for a 





