276 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Dark Variety of the Red-legged Partridge. — Three very dark- 

 coloured Eed-legged Partridges were shot by some friends of mine 

 in the autumn of 1912 when "driving" between Hook Norton and 

 Sibford, in this county — two of them on Nov. 18th and the other on 

 Dec. 28th. They were all believed to have belonged to the same 

 covey, but whether there were any more in it of the same colour is 

 not known. They were so dark in general appearance that some of 

 the guns spoke of them as " black.'' One of the birds killed in 

 November was given to me, and I have had the skin preserved. It 

 was a fine well-grown young male, fully moulted, and weighed 

 18^ oz. The whole plumage has a dark smoky cast over it. The 

 upper parts show distinct blackish edges to the feathers. Throat 

 smoky grey instead of white. Breast a fine dark slaty blue. Middle 

 of the belly smoky brown instead of chestnut, becoming still more 

 dusky towards the lower tail coverts. Thighs blackish brown instead 

 of chestnut. The legs and beak were of a rich, deep blood-red. — 

 0. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon). 



Squacco Heron (Ardea ralloides) in Co. Cork. — A specimen of this 

 rare visitor to Ireland was shot on May 13th by Mr. Beecher near one 

 of the small loughs adjacent to Skibbereen ; it is a female in the breed- 

 ing plumage. The first specimen of this rare Heron captured in 

 Ireland was shot, in Killeagh Bog, near Youghal, the beginning of 

 April, 1819, and, falling into the hands of Mr. Samuel Moss (after 

 being mounted), was sent for identification to his friend Dr. Harvey, 

 of Cork, with whom I saw the specimen a few days afterwards. I 

 believe that from the date of this first capture only seven or eight 

 specimens have been obtained in Ireland. — Bobert Warren (Ard- 

 naree, Monkstown, Co. Cork). 



Crane in Oxfordshire. — An adult Crane was shot near Adderbury 

 on March 10th, 1913, and seen in the flesh by me. It is quite 

 probable that it was an escaped bird, although the plumage showed 

 no signs of this ; the bird was, however, rather fat. I should be 

 glad to hear if anyone lost a Crane about that time. This individual 

 may be recognized by the following peculiarities, viz. the bill was 

 slightly bent to one side near the tip, and the inner primary of one 

 wing was white. I was only able to make rough measurements, 

 and these were as follows : bill a bare four inches in length ; tarsus, 

 8 in. ; wing, 21 in. ; total length to the end of the tail, 42 in. — 

 0. V. Aplix (Bloxham, Oxon). 



