76 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



1843, and this is reported (1884, p. 226) as having " the slightest 

 possible tinge of colour." One also was mentioned in the ' Field ' for 

 Jan. 18th, 1873. Three years ago, so one of the gardeners tells me, 

 he caught a pure white specimen with pink eyes whilst moving 

 sheaves of oats in a field close to this village ; it was full-grown, but 

 died a day or two after capture. This looks as if there may be some 

 family connection between these two albinos. — H. Maemaduke Lang- 

 dale (Compton House, Compton, Petersfield). 



AVE S. 

 The Ruff in the Isle of Islay. — On Sept. 11th, 1912, a Buff 

 (Machetes pugnax) was shot near Port Ellen, in the Isle of Islay. 

 This species is not included in Harvie-Brown's work on the birds of 

 Argyllshire and the Inner Hebrides, and is probably new to the fauna 

 of the island. Mr. J. Bamsey, of Kidalton, who has taken a keen 

 interest in the birds of this district for a number of years past, 

 assures me this is the first authentic capture that has come under 

 his notice. The bird — a male in winter plumage — was feeding on the 

 banks of a small loch, and was so tame that it allowed itself to be 

 approached within six or seven feet, and even then was loth to take 

 wing. Unlike most waders, I have found that the Buff will freely 

 enter thick grass, and this individual proved to be no exception to the 

 rule, for on one occasion I noticed the bird force its way through a 

 patch of short but dense herbage with almost as much confidence as 

 a Land-Bail. During my stay in the island I shot three Coal-Tits 

 for my collection. Two of these had the cheeks very slightly suffused 

 with pale primrose-yellow, in which respect they approached the 

 Irish form, Paras atcr hibemicus; the third example, however, in no 

 way differed from the typical British bird. — Collingwood Ingram. 



Black-headed Gull in Breeding Plumage. — It may interest the 

 Bev. H. Marmaduke Langdale, who refers to a specimen of L. ridi- 

 b unci as in summer dress, obtained on December 16th last (Zool. ante, 

 p. 37), to know that in my ' Birds of Northumberland and the Eastern 

 Borders,' p. 620, he may find references to the early assumption of 

 this plumage on the Borders on several occasions, the earliest on 

 December 7th, 1903, and again on 16th of the same month. On both 

 these occasions quite a number of the birds were noticed, in the 

 neighbourhood of Berwick-on-Tweed, with black heads. I have in 

 addition to these a few other records of the black hood being assumed 

 during December in Northumberland. — George Bolam (Alston, 

 Cumberland). 



