268 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



plumage. On May 1st, 1905, a fine male Great Reed- Warbler (Aero- 

 cephalus turdoides) was killed at Bexhill, Sussex. The above were all 

 brought to Mr. Bristow, of St. Leonards-on-Sea, to be set up, and are 

 now in my collection. — J. B. Nichols (Parliament Mansions, West- 

 minster). 



Hybrid Pochard in Norfolk. — Last year I received, from the Eev. B. 

 Upcher, a Duck, supposed to be a female hybrid of some sort, which 

 had been caught on Saham Mere, an attractive piece of water in Norfolk 

 to wildfowl. The Duck was shy and in very obscure plumage, but 

 has now grown tame, and will come to the edge of the pond for bread, 

 which has facilitated its comparison with sundry Pochards and Tufted 

 Ducks, alive and dead. It is evidently a female, for its plumage has 

 altered but little, and that it is a cross between these two species seems 

 very probable. The chin and throat are quite dark, the belly nearly 

 white ; there are perceptible vermiculations on the back, and it has a 

 not very distinct bar of white on the wing. The eye is dark brown, 

 and the beak in size and shape intermediate between the Pochard and 

 Tufted Duck. Its under tail-coverts are white, and this is the only 

 point in which it does not quite agree with either of the above species, 

 but better with the Nyroca Duck, of which it should be mentioned a 

 hybrid was caught on Sabam Mere some years ago (Zool. 1898, p. 108). 

 J. H. Gurney (Keswick, Norfolk). 



On the Nesting of the Rock-Dove (?) in a Rabbits' Hole at Nevay 

 Park, Forfarshire. — Towards the end of April (1905), whilst inspecting 

 the enclosure of broken ground on a steep slope on Nevay Hill, for the 

 planting of blackthorns and cotoneasters, a Dog steadily pointed at 

 what was understood to be an empty Rabbits' hole (for they had all 

 been cleared out preparatory to the enclosure). On examination the 

 keeper found a pair of young Pigeons with feathers partially developed. 

 The hole occurred on the upper edge of the broken ground, and an 

 aperture existed on the top as well as that beneath the ledge, the 

 latter apparently being most in use. The birds had evidently been 

 hatched where they were found, viz. about a foot within the aperture 

 at the edge of the ledge, where they were perfectly secure from observa- 

 tion. Moreover, the slope is nearly a mile from a habitation, and in a 

 very quiet region. The keeper thought they might be the young of 

 Cushats frightened from the larch woods by boys, but this was unlikely, 

 though Mr. R. M. Craig, a young naturalist at present at the Gatty 

 Marine Laboratory, has found the nest of the Cushat within reach of 

 the hand on low spruces in Glenfinnart, Argyllshire. A few days 

 before a swift-flying Pigeon, like a Rock-Dove, had been seen on the 



