468 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



readily distinguish the difference, I should say much more easily than 

 between Carrion Crows' and Rooks' eggs, or eggs of other closely allied 

 species. Like most others, they vary among themselves. The Roseates', 

 for instance, in the density of the creamy yellow ground colour, some being 

 very pale, others of a buff stone-colour. The markings generally consist of 

 small speckles of reddish brown with small smoky grey underlying spots, 

 distributed more or less all over the shell; others are marked with larger 

 spots and occasionally blotches of a deep reddish brown, and sometimes there 

 is a trace of the markings forming a zone round the thick end. Never, as 

 in the case of Arctic and Common Terns' eggs, does the ground colour 

 consist of a dark stone-colour, brown, bluish, green, dull green, or ashy 

 grey, and they have a common characteristic different to those of the other 

 species mentioned ; while the eggs of the Roseate Tern are generally more 

 elongated than those of the Common and Arctic species. As a rule the 

 clutch consists of two eggs only, very rarely are there three. — E. G. 

 Potter (14, Bootham Crescent, York). 



Little Gull and Red-necked Phalarope in Sussex.— On Aug. 11th 

 last I saw shot, at the mouth of Rye Harbour, Sussex, a very fine immature 

 male specimen of the Little Gull, Larus minutus. It was on the sands in 

 company with a Common Tern ; the weight was 4£ oz. On referring to 

 ' The Zoologist ' for the last seven or eight years, I was unable to find any 

 recorded so early in the autumn. The bird is now in my possession. On 

 Sept. 13th last a friend and myself obtained, in the Channel at Rye Harbour, 

 two immature Red-necked Phalaropes, Phalaropus hyperboreus, both females, 

 one weighing 1 oz., the other just over that weight. The birds have been 

 jointly identified with Mr. Bristow, of St. Leonards.— E. P. Overton (166, 

 Mouut Pleasant Road, Hastings). 



Common Swift roosting in Tree. — Last evening (Sept. 2nd), at 

 seven o'clock, I was near the top of Stepney Hill, Scarborough, and saw two 

 Swifts, Cypselus apus, flying near some isolated ash trees by the roadside. 

 Presently one of the birds flew into a tree, amongst the smaller lateral 

 branches, and as I thought to take flies from the leaves. After re- 

 peating this action the bird, to my great surprise, clung to a pendant 

 branchlet, amongst its leaves, and there hung suspended vertically, its long 

 wings drooping below the tail, at first in horseshoe form, and then after- 

 wards brought together. The bird hung suspended at about twenty feet 

 from the ground whilst I watched below for a quarter of an hour, till dark- 

 ness and rain, which was falling freely, sent me away. I left the bird there 

 hanging motionless, quite indifferent to the rain and breeze, which caused 

 it continuously to sway backwards and forwards like a suspended scarecrow. 

 The companion bird approached, and had a look at the other two or three 



