458 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



time it seemed to me to be a rather unusual occurrence, though several 

 observers stated that they had noticed it not uncommonly. This year, 

 however, I had a good opportunity of watching a Cuckoo at Tramore, 

 in this county, and listened to it uttering its call while flying. On one 

 day (June 4th) I heard it repeat " cuckoo " no fewer than eight times 

 during one continued flight, and shortly afterwards the bird called five 

 times, also during one flight. Prof. Newton spells the bird's name 

 " Cuckow " in the fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' and in an 

 account of the bird to be found in the last edition of the ' Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica,' vol. vi. p. 685, he states that thus " the word was formerly 

 and more correctly spelt — changed without any apparent warrant ex- 

 cept that accorded by custom, while some of the more scholarly 

 English ornithologists, as Montagu and Jenyns, have kept the older 

 form." It seems to me that there was good reason for altering the 

 spelling to " cuckoo." The bird's name admittedly was given to it on 

 account of the note it utters, as is also the case with regard to other 

 birds, e. g. Chiffchaff, Curlew, Hoopoe. I think that most observers 

 will say that " cuckoo " is nearer to the bird's note than " cuckow." — 

 William W. Flbmyng (Coolfin, Portlaw, Co. Waterford). 



White-tailed Eagle (Haliaetus albicilla). — On Nov. 12th I pur- 

 chased, from Leadenhall Market, a White-tailed Eagle, which was said 

 to have been shot in Scotland on Nov. 9th. The bird proved to be a 

 female, and from its plumage was probably in its second year. On 

 examination of the stomach and gizzard of the bird not a particle of 

 anything could be found. This certainly seemed strange ; but Morris, 

 in his ' British Birds,' vol. i. p. 10, states that " this species has the 

 power of abstaining for a very long time from food. One has been 

 known to have lived for four or five weeks in total abstinence." But I 

 should doubt if this species would abstain from food in its native 

 haunts, unless extremely hard pressed, which seems unlikely at this 

 time of the year. The colour of this bird is as follows : the feathers 

 of the head and neck are dark brown, tipped with light brown, the 

 roots being white, those on the crown itself being of a darker brown 

 than those of the neck ; the throat is lighter than the neck, with more 

 white showing ; the breast-feathers are white at the base, shading 

 into light reddish brown, and dark brown at the tips, giving it a some- 

 what motley appearance ; the lower part of the body light brown, 

 mottled with dark brown ; the back reddish brown, becoming darker 

 at the tips, the roots of the feathers being white ; the lower part of the 

 back dark brown ; the tail different shades of brown and dirty white ; 

 the under tail-coverts white, tipped with dark brown ; the thighs 



