tiOTES AND QUEKIES. 395 



instance. I obtained one clutch of eggs in which the ground colour was 

 exceedingly light, and the markings very faint indeed, and it had not been 

 that the bird was on the nest, I should have had considerable doubt as to 

 their belonging to this species. — John H. Willmoke (Queenwood College, 

 Stockbridge, Hants). 



[The alleged scarcity of the Spotted Flycatcher this summer is probably 

 only local. There have been plenty in Richmond Park, and during the last 

 days of August, at Cowfold, near West Grinstead, Sussex, it appeared to 

 be one of the commonest birds in the neighbourhood. — Ed.] 



Ruddy Sheldrake in West Sussex.— Messrs. Pratt and Sons, of 

 Brighton, have just stuffed a female Ruddy Sheldrake (Tadoma rutila), 

 which was shot at Harting, near Petersfield, on Sept. 12th. The bird 

 belongs to the Rev. H. D. Gordon, of Harting Vicarage, and is in very 

 fair plumage. I hope you will think it worth recording in ( The Zoologist,' 

 as I suppose there is a chance of its being a wild bird. — Herbert Langton 

 (11, Marlborough Place, Brighton). 



Breeding Plumage of Richardson's Skua.— Last spring I happened to 

 be in a breeding-place of Richardson's Skua. Although there must have 

 been at least twenty pairs, and possibly more, they could not be said to be 

 building in a colony, as their nests were spread over about five or six 

 square miles. Both the dark and light races were represented, though I think 

 the light ones predominated. From a good many observations I came to 

 the conclusion that the dark male and white female was the most common 

 combination. Then came both white birds. I only observed two pairs of 

 both dark birds, and one in which the male was the light and the female 

 the dark. In all these cases I judged that bird to be the female which was 

 the most anxious on an approach to the nest : of each pair one bird, and 

 one only, fell on the ground, and went through extraordinary acrobatic 

 performances, although the other would always fly round close to the 

 intruder as long as he was near the nest. Messrs. Pratt have drawn my 

 attention to some Richardson's Skuas obtained in the Orkneys, which, 

 although of the dark race, have patches of white feathers on the chin, and 

 also on the shoulder. They say they have observed the same tendency in 

 the Pomatorhine Skua, and in the same situations, and that these varia- 

 tions have always been in Orkney specimens. — Herbert Langton (11, 

 Marlborough Place, Brighton). 



AMPHIBIA. 



Distribution of the Natterjack Toad. — In reply to Dr. Scharff's note 

 in the last number of ' The Zoologist ' (p. 357), I beg to state that the 

 breeding season of the Natterjack, Bufo calamita, is from the middle of 

 May to the middle of June in the north of France, in Belgium, and in 



