NOT tiS AND QUERIES. 281 



Ornithological Notes from Shetland. — A specimen of Buffon's Skua 

 {Stercorarius parasiticus) was obtained on May 24th, a male in full plumage, 

 measuring from tip of beak to tip of central tail-feathers, 21f in. ; the central 

 tail-feathers were llf in. in length. The stomach contained a few small 

 beetles and some vegetable matter like tops of heather. I am not aware 

 that the bird has ever been recorded as visiting Shetland. The Blackbird 

 (Turdus merula), usually described as merely a visitor to our isles, is now 

 resident throughout the year, and has nested and brought out young for 

 several years past. A pair built a nest in the honeysuckle which grows on 

 the south wall of our house ; four eggs were laid, but a marauding fiend of 

 a cat upset all the domestic arrangements, and the birds have disappeared. 

 I have been watching for some time past another nest built by a pair of 

 Blackbirds in a loose stone wall close by the house, and to-day (May 26th) 

 I was pleased to hear the chirping of young birds, and to see the old male 

 carrying food to and fro. The season has been very bleak and cold ; the 

 leaves are only appearing on the trees now, and this, together with the 

 desire to circumvent the odious cats, may have induced this particular pair 

 of Blackbirds to abandon their usual habit of building in a shrub, and flee 

 for security to a stone fortress. I am very much amused with a Starling 

 which haunts this house ; his power of imitating is excellent. I have 

 heard him imitating perfectly the Blackbird, Hooded Crow, Corn Bunting, 

 my police-whistle, and the neighing of a Horse. — T. Edmondston Saxby 

 (Halligarth, Baltasound, Shetland, N.B.). 



AVICULTUEAL NOTES. 



Hybrid Doves. — Homer Pigeon $ X Collared Turtle $. — While in 

 Manchester the other day I called upon Mr. Fred Muirhead, of Barnfield, 

 Prestwich, to see his interesting little collection of living animals and birds, 

 and more especially to examine a hybrid betwixt a cock Homer Pigeon and 

 a hen Turtur risorius that I had heard of. It is a male, and was bred in 

 1899. Its parents were not regularly paired, as it was the result of illicit 

 intercourse, the male parent having already his own household located in 

 the same aviary close beside the Turtle. In appearance the hybrid is of 

 bolder carriage and smarter figure than a Turtle-Dove, while in colour it is 

 all over of a much darker shade, wanting the dark collar, or any indication 

 of it. The neck shows a beautiful vinous reflection similar to that of many 

 dun or red-coloured Pigeons. Across the terminal third of the tail there is 

 an indication of a dark bar. In size it is decidedly larger than the Turtle, 

 slim and elegant in outline. The voice differs markedly from either the 

 Pigeon or the Turtle, and appears to me, allowing of course for the lesser 

 volume of sound, to be exceedingly similar to that of the Wood-Pigeon 

 {Golumba palumbus). The hybrid (only one bird of the mesalliance was 



Zool. 1th ser. vol. IV., June, 1900. v 



