424 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Somersetshire: those parts which are white in the normal bird were 

 white, and those parts which are coloured in ordinary birds were of a pale 

 buff; eyes very light in colour. In September last Mr. J. V. Hewitt, of 

 The Elms, Stapleton, shot in his garden a Spotted Flycatcher, of which the 

 following is a description ; — Under parts white, profusely streaked with 

 buff; upper parts buff, with the tips of the primaries and the tip of the tail 

 distinctly darker; eyes normal. — H. G. Charbonnier (Clifton, Bristol). 



Late Nesting of the Tawny Owl in Scotland.— In wandering through 

 the romantic pathways of Crichope Linn on the 19th September, I was 

 surprised to see a nest of the Brown Owl, Strix aluco, placed immediately 

 under the brink of one of the deep, dark ravines that form the uppermost 

 portion of the Linn. A couple of new-laid, glistening white eggs were 

 in the nest. For any species, except perhaps the Barn Owl, the above date 

 is unusually late. But, owing to the superabundance of voles, Avicola 

 agrestis, the Owls began breeding very early this year, and it seems that, 

 for the same reason, they are continuing to nest very late in the season. 

 Although the voles on the moors adjoining Crichope have, in a great 

 measure, diminished from their vast numbers of a few months ago, still 

 enough remain to account for this disturbance of tha Brown Owl's usual 

 sedate breeding habits. — R. Service (Maxwelltown, Dumfries). 



Garganey in Holderness. — A young male Garganey, Querquedula 

 circia, was shot on Sept. 19th near Easington. This is the first example 

 observed in the Humber district in autumn which I have had to record. — 

 John Cordeaux (Eaton Hall, Retford). 



Rare Wheatear seen near Spurn, — Mr. H. B. Hewetson, of Leeds, 

 sends a sketch of the head of a Wheatear seen by himself and two sons on 

 Sept. 18th, near the chalk bank at Spurn. He says, " I was quite close to 

 it for a long time ; as we walked along, it flew on with a party of Common 

 Wheatears." It was russet-coloured, with sides of the head and throat 

 black. It may have been an adult male Saxicola stapazina or S. deserta. 

 Presuming, however, that Mr. Hewetson's sketch is quite correct, as to the 

 extension of the black to the lower part of the threat, it is suggestive rather 

 of S. melanoleuca (Giild.J, the eastern form of the Black-throated Chat. — 

 John Cordeaux (Eaton Hall, Retford). 



Barred Warbler in Holderness.— Mr. Philip Loten, of Easington, 

 sends a skin of the Barred Warbler, Sylvia nisoria, a bird of the year, shot 

 on October 19th, at Easington, by Mr. Jalland, of Hull. This is the second 

 recorded for that locality. The specimen was exhibited by Prof. Newton, 

 at the meeting of the Zoological Society in London, on Nov. 1st, and 

 has been purchased by Mr. W. Eagle Clarke for the Museum of Science 

 and Art, Edinburgh. — John Cordeaux (Eaton Hall, Retford). 



