NOTES AND QUERIES. 115 



closely : they are without the black-brown splashes on the upper parts of 

 the Turtle Dove; their foreheads are very light grey, and generally they 

 are slightly lighter coloured than pure Turtle Doves. A few weeks ago 

 I had the pleasure of seeing three hybrids bred between a cock Turtle Dove 

 and a hen Barbary Turtle Dove of the ordinary variety. As might be 

 expected, these birds are exactly like my hybrids, except for being slightly 

 darker. One had been bred in 1889, two in 1890 ; the two were still in 

 nestling plumage, and these again showed well-developed neck patches. 

 The birds were all together in a small enclosure, and the owner assured 

 me that the 1889 bird had not been at all vicious with its parents during 

 the last summer. I mention this fact because it is often thought that 

 hybrids are always particularly quarrelsome. My white hen laid again 

 towards the end of September, but the Turtle Dove refused to help her to 

 incubate, and after she had been sitting alone for a week I found the eggs 

 were unfertile, and took them away. Do any readers of ' The Zoologist ' 

 know of an instance of cross-bred doves breeding either amongst themselves 

 or with the parent species on either side? My two birds appear, from the 

 difference in their size, and also from the depth of the vinous coloration 

 of the breast, to be cock and hen. I shall do my best next summer to 

 prove whether they are fertile or not; and, inasmuch as hybrid pheasants 

 and waterfowl are fertile, I think the doves will probably prove to be so 

 too.— E. W. H. Blagg (Cheadle, Staffordshire). 



Ornithological Notes from Harwich. — During the month of August 

 last, a number of Greenshanks frequented the mud-flats of the rivers 

 Stour and Orwell ; there were quite fifty in one flock, out of which three 

 were killed at one shot, as they were feeding on the ooze. There were also 

 several family parties of Green Sandpipers, many more than usual, and 

 Common Sandpipers were everywhere. In September many Little Stints 

 and Curlew Sandpipers appeared, and six of the former were shot; 

 Godwits were fairly common, but Knots, on the contrary, were scarce; 

 one old bird, with a good red breast, was shot on the mud-flats of the river 

 Stour on the 6th October ; this, I think, is a rather late date for this bird 

 to retain its breeding plumage. On the 8th the Hooded Crows arrived, as 

 usual; on the 11th many Golden Plover appeared; on the 13th two Shore 

 Larks were shot on a piece of waste land quite near the town ; five were 

 shot on this same piece of land on the 12th December, last year. During 

 the stormy weather about the 15th October several Skuas were seen, and 

 one, a female Pomatorhine Skua, shot ; on the 1 8th, Bramblings, Gold- 

 crests, and Jack Snipe appeared ; on the 22nd a pair of Tufted Ducks were 

 shot on the river Stour ; the ova of the female were well-developed, some 

 as large as No. 2 shot. On the 2nd November a flock of Snow Buntings, 

 in all stages of plumage, were seen on the beach at Dovercourt. — F. Kerry 

 (Harwich). 



