28 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



CETACEA. 



Lesser Rorqual Whale. — An adult female example of the Lesser 

 Rorqual {BalcBuoptera rostrata) was washed ashore two miles north of 

 Caister (five miles north of Yarmouth) early on the morning of Dec. 3rd 

 last. T went to see it in the noon-hour, and found the dimensions as 

 follow: — Length, 30 ft.; width of tail-fluke, 7 ft. 6 in. ; pectoral flippers, 

 4 ft. It had evidently followed the Herring-shoals, and, getting into 

 diflBcuhies amongst the sand-banks, had succumbed. It had been dead 

 five or six days, and was already becoming very " high and gamey." The 

 deeply furrowed belly had expanded with putrefactive gases, and answered 

 to pressure like a huge bladder. No traces of having been run into 

 by steamer or other craft were visible, but the outer skin had been much 

 abraded from contact with the sands. Someone had been before me, and 

 had cut out all the baleen but a seven-inch length near the snout. This 

 example is identical in size with the one that afforded such an exciting 

 chase in Yarmouth Harbour in June, 1892, and which the writer exhibited, 

 stuff'ed, on the marine parade in the following season. — Arthur Patterson 

 (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth). 



AVES. 



Habits of the Ring-Ouzel. — Referring to Mr. Fox's interesting article 

 in 'The Zoologist ' (1900, p. 1), on the Ring-Ouzel {Turdus torquatus) in 

 Derbyshire, it will be seen that Lord Lilford says, " I have observed the 

 bird in our immediate neighbourhood, on its return migration, about the 

 end of April"; and the Rev. H. A. Macpherson ('Fauna of Lakeland,' 

 p. 89) writes, " The last days of March witness the return of the Ring- 

 Ouzels to their upland home." From what is known of its migratory 

 habits, one would think that this species should arrive in Northamptonshire 

 much before the end of April ; but if the date of arrival is fixed late 

 for Northamptonshire, Mr. Macpherson's date for Lakeland would appear 

 to be early. Of course they may arrive in the Lake District earlier than 

 here, but this seems hardly probable. We have seen it here in March, but 

 this has been in an exceptionally mild season, and in normal seasons it can- 

 not be expected to arrive before the first week in April. In its general 



