NOTES AND QUERIES. 23 



Black-throated Diver, Colymbus arcticus, Linn. — One obtained at Inch, 

 November 7th, 1892. 



Slavonian or Dusky Grebe, Podicipes auritus, Linn. — A few seen at 

 Inch last winter. 



In the same number is also recorded the Ruff, Machetes pugnax, Linn., 

 of which three specimens have been obtained at Inch this year, two in 

 September and one in October. — H. Chichester Hart (Carrablagh, 

 Portsalon, Letterkenny). 



Barn Owl breeding in Confinement. — A pair of Barn Owls, belonging 

 to me, during the summer of 1892 laid four eggs in a barrel which I put 

 up for them, and therein reared eight young ones. I imagine this is an 

 unusual occurrence. — H. C. Hewitt (14, Park Street, Cambridge). 



Velvet Scoter in West Suffolk. — On Nov. 26th an adult male Velvet 

 Scoter, CEdemia fusca, was shot at Cockfield, near Bury St. Edmuuds, 

 where it had been noticed for two or three days before it was obtained. 

 I saw it, in the flesh, at the birdstuffer's at Bury, and specially noticed the 

 brilliancy of the orange and roseate colour of its feet and legs. Cockfield 

 is quite twenty-five miles from the sea, and as Norfolk and Suffolk 

 naturalists consider the Velvet Scoter essentially a marine duck, this 

 occurrence seems worth recording. Even on the coast, an old male of this 

 species is a rarity ; the late Mr. Hele only had two brought to him at 

 Aldeburgh during thirty years, one of which is preserved in his collection 

 at the Ipswich Museum. — Julian G-. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury 

 St. Edmunds). 



Peahen assuming Male Plumage. — The occurrence of a male feathered 

 Peahen (Zool. 1892, p. 429) is not without precedent, for I remember that 

 there was one in a farmyard near Brandon ; and Latham mentions two in 

 his ' Synopsis of Birds ' (vol. ii. p. 672). Some very curious hybrids, 

 between fowls and Guinea-fowls, have been bred in Norfolk. My father 

 had one, and I saw another in 1886 ; but I never heard of a hybrid 

 Peahen. — J. H. Gurney (Keswick, Norwich). 



'The Zoologist ' for December, 1892, contains a note on this subject 

 (p. 429), concluding with the words : — " Such instances have often been 

 noticed in the case of fowls, pheasants, and other birds, but never before in 

 the case of the Pea-fowl." About 1885 or 1886 my lamented friend, and 

 then rector, the Rev. S. H. Owen, of Bucknall, Staffs, had a Peahen which 

 assumed the train and neck plumage of the male bird. 1 had no idea that 

 such a circumstance was less usual than in other birds, or should have 

 recorded it at the time. Both my wife and myself remember the bird well ; 

 aud the "Peahen which turned into a Peacock" was quite a "household 

 word." — Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 



