518 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



saw a large animal, that he at first thought was a Sturgeon, in shallow 

 water at the head of Mayland Creek, between Canney and Steeple Hall. He 

 very pluckily attacked it, drove it on the saltings, and disabled it by means 

 of a piece of old gaspipe that he had with him. He then fetched his father, 

 Mr. Edmund Cardnell ; they had then considerable difficulty in despatching 

 it with large butcher's knives. I went to inspect the specimen while it was 

 being cut up for manure by Mr. Nix, of Steeple Hall, and found it to be a 

 young female Lesser Rorqual (Balcenoptera rostrata). It measured just 

 under 17 ft. in length, was black above, but paler on its ventral surface ; the 

 baleen was short, and with the bristly fringe was pale in colour. The flukes 

 measured 6 ft. 3 in. across, and 1 ft. 2 in. wide in their widest part. The 

 flippers, 27 in. by 6 in., were of a beautiful enamel whiteness on their 

 central surface, but dark at each end. The head was 4 ft. in length, the 

 lower jaws measuring 2 ft. 6 in. I also measured the gut, resembling a 

 two-inch hose, for over twenty-four yards, and then did not get to the end. 

 Mr. Nix estimated the carcase to weigh over two tons, as it was more than 

 a load for two strong horses to drag. — Edward A. Fitch (Maldon, Essex). 



AVES. 



Occurrence of the Melodious Warbler in Sussex. — On the 10th of 

 May last an example of Hypolais polyglotta (Vieill.j was shot near Ninfield, 

 and sent, together with some other birds, to Mr. George Bristow, Jun. I 

 had the satisfaction of seeing the bird in the flesh, and I at once suspected 

 its identity. On taking Dr. Ernst Hartert to view the specimen, he agreed 

 with me in referring it to this species, and was able to match it with 

 examples of H. polyglotta from the South of France. Mr. Howard 

 Saunders also has examined the bird, and is satisfied that it is rightly 

 identified. It proved on dissection to be a male. As pointed out by Mr. 

 Saunders ('The Ibis,' 1897, p. 628), the Melodious Warbler may be dis- 

 tinguished from the Icterine Warbler (H. icterina) by being somewhat 

 smaller, by the distinctly larger bastard-primary, the relatively shorter 

 wing, and by the second quill being shorter than the fifth, the reverse being 

 the case with the latter species. The present forms the second record of 

 the undoubted occurrence of the Melodious Warbler in Britain. — W. 

 Ruskin Butterfield (4, Stanhope Place, St. Leonards-on-Sea). 



The Sardinian Warbler. — To avoid possible confusion in the future, 

 it may be well to point out that the proper name for the " Sardinian 

 Warbler " [ante, p. 450), which is common at Gibraltar, is Sylvia melano- 

 cephala. I do not find the true Sylvia sarda, now known as Melizophilus 

 sardus (Marm.), Marmora's Warbler, included in Col. Irby's ' Ornithology 

 of the Straits of Gibraltar.'— 0. V. Aplin. 



