216 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the past winter. We presume our correspondent is aware that this bird is 

 unknown in Ireland. From his letter it might be inferred that it is to be 

 found in Tipperary. — Ed.] 



Blackcap in Sussex in Winter.— You may add Sussex to the counties 

 in which the Blackcap has been seen this winter. On Feb. 2*2nd T saw a 

 hen bird of this species on the street pavement searching for insects in 

 scraper-holes and the corners of entrances to houses. The bird looked very 

 puffy, and permitted me to come within a foot of it, but had enough life in 

 it to fly upon a wall when I attempted to catch it with my hand. I noticed 

 it several times during the day, but not afterwards. — S. H. Verrall 

 (Lewes). 



Red-throated Diver and other Birds in Notts.— During October last 

 Lord Middleton shot, on the lake in his park at Wollaton, a nice specimen 

 of the Red-throated Diver and a female Scaup. A Common Buzzard was 

 obtained, during the same month, near Nottingham ; and Mr. Barron shot 

 a pair of Pintail ed Ducks, just over the boundary, in December. Mr. 

 Masters shot two Bean Geese at Annesley Park during the same month. 

 Two Smews were shot on the Trent, near Beeston, and one on the same 

 river at Shelford. — J. Whitaker (Rainworth, Notts). 



The Evolution of Bird-song: a Correction. — In my second article 

 on the " Evolution of Bird-song " (Zool., 1890, p. 284), I stated that the 

 Kittiwake and the Peregrine Falcon had a similar cry ; I should have said 

 that the Herring Gull and the Peregrine had a similar cry — a note like 

 " horrock." I am engaged on a work upon Bird-song, and should be glad 

 to receive records of remarkable instances of imitation, &c, by wild or 

 captive birds. I should like to add that the theories stated in the articles 

 in question have been supported by my later observations, and by many 

 facts vvhjch I have gleaned from several authors. — Charles A. Witchell 

 (Stroud). 



The Birds of Heligoland. — The long-expected appearance of Mr. 

 Gatke's volume on the Birds of Heligoland will be hailed with satisfaction 

 by ornithologists. The work, which has been in hand for many years, has 

 been edited by Prof. Rudolf Blasius, and published in Brunswick. It is 

 a handsome, well-printed, royal octavo volume of 609 pages, and represented 

 on the pretty cover is a lighthouse, in black and gold, radiating beams of 

 light into the night, with a cloud of birds drifting past, and with the 

 appropriate title of the book below — ■ Die Vogelwarte Helgoland.' The 

 work is divided into three sections, the first of which has reference to the 

 migration of birds under the various headings : — (i.) The ordinary migra- 

 tion of Heligoland. (n.) Direction of the migrants. (in.) Height at 

 which migrants travel. (iv.) Speed of migrants. (v.) Meteorological 

 conditions influencing migration. (vr.) Migration in connection with age 



