272 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



throat that it might be easily overlooked. The fact of the nesting of the 

 Cirl Bunting in Wales has not, I believe, been before recorded, therefore 

 these particulars may be of interest. — E. A. Swainson (Woodlands, 

 Brecon). 



Hermaphrodite Finch. — At a recent meeting of the Royal Academy 

 of Sciences, Amsterdam, Herr Max Weber exhibited a hermaphrodite 

 Chaffinch, Fringilla ccelebs, which had been caught in the neighbourhood 

 of Amsterdam. The right side of the bird had the plumage of the adult 

 male, the left side that of the adult female, and this striking difference in 

 the external coloration of the two sides was found to correspond with the 

 internal structure, there being an ovary on the female side and a testis on 

 that of the male; thus illustrating the dependence of sexual colouring upon 

 the nature of the sexual gland. — J. E. Harting. 



Wood Wren in Co. Wicklow. — On May 31st, when in company with 

 Mr. A. Friel and Mr. Anton (Lord Powerscourt's head keeper), I had the 

 pleasure of seeing and hearing this little bird. We found it in the deer- 

 park, Powerscourt, very near the spot where two years ago Mr. Anton, at 

 my request, shot the specimen now in the Dublin Museum. On June 5th 

 I heard two other Wood Wrens singing in Derrybawn Wood, near the 

 Seven Churches. These are the only instances I know of its occurrence in 

 Ireland lately. Mr. Allan Ellison and Mr. J. Johnston are indefatigable 

 in their quest of birds in Co. Wicklow, and Mr. Patten in preserving any 

 specimens obtained. A number of young and ardent ornithologists are now 

 investigating the avifauna of this county, where Mr. R. M. Barrington has 

 laboured so long and so successfully. — Charles W. Benson (Elm Park, 

 Ranelagh, Dublin). 



Wood Wren in Co. Mayo.— I have just received from Mr. Richard 

 Widdicombe, Lightkeeper at Blackrock, Co. Mayo, a Wood Wren, shot 

 there on May 27th. Blackrock is situated about six miles N.W. of Achill 

 Head, and is a small island, with very scanty vegetation, over which the 

 spray dashes in stormy weather. This is the first occurrence which has 

 been reported of the Wood Wren on migration at any Irish lighthouse, and 

 extends the range of this very rare visitor to the extreme west. — Richard 

 M. Barrington (Fassaroe, Bray). 



Note on the American Killdeer Plover shot at Christchurch, 

 Hants.— The late Mr. Wise, in his 'History of the New Forest,' has 

 stated that a Killdeer Plover, sEgialitis vocifera, was shot at Knapp Mills, 

 Christchurch, in April, 1859. Mr. Howard Saunders, in his 'Illustrated 

 Manual of British Birds ' (p. 529), by some occult reasoning, doubts the 

 accuracy of this statement, and gives the date April, 1857. Had he made 

 proper enquiry, however, he would have found not only that Tom Dowden 

 (not M Dowding," as printed by Mr. Wise) killed the bird at the place 



