NOTES AND QUERIES. 459 



uniform dark brown ; wing-coverts dark brown ; primaries very dark 

 brown, almost black ; secondaries very light brown, dark at the tips ; 

 legs and toes yellow ; claws black ; cere brown ; iris brown. Is not 

 this the plumage in which the bird is occasionally mistaken for the 

 Golden Eagle, as stated by Mr. Stevenson in his ' Birds of Norfolk ' ? 

 The bird was measured in the flesh on arrival, of which the dimensions 

 are : — Length, 35 in. ; extent, 7 ft. 2^ in. ; length of wing, 3 ft. 4 in. ; 

 of tail, 13 in. ; of bill, 2f in. ; of tarsus, 4 in. ; of toes, 2£ in. ; of 

 claws, li in. ; of head, 3 J in. — D. A. Bannerman (1, Lansdowne Ter- 

 race, Grand Parade, Eastbourne). 



[We saw this bird in Leadenhall Market before it was sold. It then 

 had a small rabbit in its talons, so that it was evidently about to break 

 its fast when killed. It has been reported as a Golden Eagle in a con- 

 temporary. — Ed.} 



Osprey, Rough-legged Buzzards, Hen-Harrier, and Honey-Buzzard 

 in Notts. — During the first week in September a Honey-Buzzard was 

 shot in Thieves Wood, near here ; it was hard at work on a wasp's 

 nest. About the end of the second week in October an Osprey was 

 killed when flying over the Trent at Gunthorpe. Two Rough-legged 

 Buzzards, one trapped and one shot, about the same time in Eufford 

 Forest. I saw a Hen-Harrier (female) fly past me in the deer-paddock 

 here ; a fine bird, and only about forty yards away. This was on 

 Nov. 3rd. — J. Whitaker (Rainworth Lodge, Notts). 



Snow-Goose (Chen hyperboreus) in Ireland. — A sportsman, whilst 

 out after Wild Geese, which had arrived in large numbers on the bogs 

 in Co. Longford on Oct. 28th, saw two Geese pitch in a stubble-field, 

 and, creeping up, he shot both. He gave one to a friend, and, having 

 never met a white Wild Goose before, he sent the bird to us for 

 mounting. It proved to be a female Snow-Goose, in excellent plumage. 

 Although we made prompt efforts to secure the other bird, it had 

 reached the pot. He described it as dark in the plumage, and the 

 same size. We presume it was an immature bird. — Williams & Son 

 (2, Dame Street, Dublin). 



Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) in Cheshire. — On Nov. 

 1st, when watching the wildfowl on Tatton Mere, near Knutsford, 

 I saw a Pied-breasted Merganser with a little party of Great Crested 

 Grebes. Presently it drew away from the Grebes, and, swimming low 

 in the water and at a great pace, made for a pool which is only con- 

 nected with the mere itself by a narrow gut. In tbis pool I found the 

 bird diving for food close to the bank, and was able to get within 



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