510 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



played with mostly all the Divers. Since that time I have only twice taken 

 the nest of the Great Northern Diver, 1891 and 1893 ; each time one nest 

 only. The gentleman to whom I showed the Blackthroat breeding, and 

 who gave me Saunders's ■ Manual,' was Fred Howe Windham, Esq., whose 

 address I do not at present know. His last address three years ago was 

 The Castle, Castlerea, Roscommon. Terns, Common and Arctic, have 

 left ; also the majority of sea-birds. Excepting Golden Plover, few winter 

 visitors have yet arrived." — Bernard A. E. Buttress. 



Noddy Tern in Cheshire.— The other day, when looking through a 

 collection of stuffed birds, I saw and obtained a specimen which has since 

 been identified as the Noddy Tern, Sterna stolida, Linn. ; it is in immature 

 plumage, the grey on the crown being just visible. It was shot on the Dee 

 marshes in winter about six years ago. As I believe this Tern has been 

 only twice recorded in Europe,* I think this specimen worth mention. — 

 F. Congreve (Burton Hall, Neston, Chester). 



P.S. — I obtained the Noddy from a small private collection belonging to 

 Mr. Lawton, an ex-tenant of my father's. He killed and stuffed it himself. 

 It is at present in our collection at Burton Hall, but it has been identified 

 by the taxidermist of the Liverpool Museum, and by Dr. Herbert Dobie, of 

 Chester. — F. L. Congreve. 



Eggs of the Roseate Tern.— With regard to Mr. Potter's remarks on 

 the above (p. 467), my experience, and that of several of my friends, is that 

 we, at any rate, are not able to diagnose with certainty the eggs of these 

 birds from those of the Common and Arctic Terns without further data to 

 go upon. I do not say that Mr. Potter is wrong in his assertions, as it is 

 very unwise to dogmatize on these matters ; but I merely state my experi- 

 ence. Everyone who has visited a large breeding haunt of the Arctic or 

 Common Tern knows what an infinite variety the eggs present in form, size, 

 ground colouring, and markings ; and with regard to the usual test given in 

 books for eggs of the Roseate Tern, I have seen a pair of Arctic Tern's 

 eggs far more elongated than any Roseate Tern's I have yet examined. I 

 have not examined the shells of any of the three species microscopically. 

 I believe it was Dr. Johnson who remarked that " a wager is the butt-end 

 of a fool's argument," and I should be very sorry to back myself to pick out 

 of a basket containing the eggs of all three species three eggs of the Roseate 

 Tern in three consecutive draws, at the rate of a sovereign an egg; for, from 

 what I have seen, eggs of all three species could be chosen so alike that it 

 would defy the best oologist living to discriminate between them. I may 

 mention that an ornithological friend of mine once backed himself to 



* Two specimens taken off the coast of Wexford, one still preserved in 

 Dublin Museum. — Ed. 





