274 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



correct. Mr. Hill does not know of it in the Lizard district. Mr. D'Urban 

 includes the Lesser Whitethroat among the birds which visit and nest in 

 South Devon in the summer, but I suspect tuat here, too, is an error. 

 Bellamy adds it to his South Devon list as 'rare.' In North Devon I 

 have never seen it. Colonel Montagu never met with it in Devonshire, 

 almost a decisive authority for its non-appearance. It is true that every I 

 year some change or other takes place in the distribution of birds, some 

 which a few years since were rarely seen in a certain locality being now 

 commonly met with; while others, which used to be frequent, have 

 disappeared, owing to well-ascertained causes; but I do not believe that | 

 any change has affected the range of the Lesser Whitethroat to extend it 

 further towards the west." By the way, Exmoor does not belong to Devon- 

 shire, for which county both Mr. Pidsley and the reviewer of his book seem 

 to claim it.— Murray A. Mathew (Buckland Diuham, Frome). 



Hybrid Finches at the Crystal Palace Bird Show.— In Mr. A. H. 

 Macpherson's note on this subject (pp. 188-9), no notice is taken of four 

 remarkable mules, which caused amongst the judges considerable discussion. 

 It is a general belief, I find, amongst "fanciers" that mules are always 

 infertile, the singular argument put forth being that their fertility " would 

 be against nature," whatever that may mean. The four birds in question 

 were stated by Mr. Dye, who bred them, and with whom I have been in 

 correspondence, to have been produced thus : three from a Linnet and 

 Canary mule hen and a Canary cock, which (as might be expected) were 

 almost indistinguishable from Canaries ; and one from a Linnet and Canary 

 mule hen and a Linnet cock, which was almost indistinguishable from a 

 pure Linnet. The last-named was rather a weakly bird, and drooped one 

 wing, from having been injured in the nest. I see no reason to doubt 

 Mr. Dye's statement, and it is quite in accordance with several cases of 

 fertility I have met with both among birds and mammalian hybrids.— 

 J. Jenner Weir (Chirbury, Beckenham, Kent). 



Greater Shearwater and Dipper in Kent.— On October 29th, 1890, 

 an adult male Greater Shearwater (Puffinus major) was found alive by a 

 boy on the rocks at Ramsgate, and somewhere about the same time, or at 

 any rate between that date and Christmas, a Dipper {Cinclus aquaticus) was 

 shot on the rocks at Margate. The Shearwater was taken to Mr. Softley, 

 who, by feeding it on fish, kept it alive until May 9th (more than six 

 months), hoping that it would lay an egg, a futile hope, as it proved to be 

 a male. The Dipper had a good pectoral band of chestnut, showing it 

 belonged to the English species, which is only recorded as having occurred 

 once before amongst the « Birds of East Kent,' by Mr. Dowker, and the 

 Greater Shearwater is not mentioned by him. — J. H, Gurney (Keswick 

 Hall, Norwich). 



