156 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



following day. March 22nd, 1877, Mr. F. J. Thynne saw an adult 

 male for two consecutive days in Haines Park, and a female or im- 

 mature male on March 27th, 1880, in the same locality. November 

 4th, 1890, one killed at Eoxton, and another, about 1893, at Great 

 Barford, both of which were perched on the hurdles forming sheep 

 pens. February 17th, 1899, Mr. A. Covington observed a male 

 flitting along a hedge on Clapham Hill. December 28th, 1901, an 

 adult male killed from an apple tree at Kempston. March 3rd, 1902, 

 Mr. A. Covington made his fourth local record, another adult male in 

 Bedford Park, which he watched for some time amongst the trees 

 and bushes there. A female was obtained at Biddenham in November, 

 1906. Early in November, 1908, one was killed in or near Bedford. 

 Another shot along the highway near the Toll-house at Boxton in 

 November, 1909. In the winter 1911-12 one was obtained near 

 Bedford. The last and seventeenth record was a male seen by 

 Major G. Haines on December 22nd, 1914, at Grounds Farm, Hock- 

 liffe, who refers to the weather being dull and frosty at the time. It 

 will be noticed that the majority of records refer to adult males. — 

 J. Steele Elliott (Dowles Manor, Shropshire). 



The Meaning of "Katones." — I think "Patines"is quite possibly 

 the explanation of "Katones," although it is not likely to have been 

 in general use in Wales. Bay does not actually give " Patines " as 

 one of the names of the Manx Shearwater in his ' Synopsis Avium.' 

 But in the appendix to that work he describes a bird which he calls 

 " Hirundo marina major. Patines de Oviedo, lib. 14, cap. 1. The 

 greater Sea-Swallow," and it is to this that Pennant's reference 

 relates. Bay's description of the bird leaves no doubt that it was a 

 Shearwater, although it may not have been the Manx Shearwater. 

 He speaks of it inhabiting the Atlantic, Madeira, and the Salvages, 

 and approaching the Land's End. — O. V. Aplin (Bloxham). 



The Sense of Direction in Birds. — Mr. Barrington's assumption 

 that the young Polynesian Cuckoo, born of parents which have 

 wintered on the Kermadoc Islands, necessarily proceeds in its first 

 autumn to these islands may rightly be questioned (ante, p. 115). The 

 Cuckoos bred in New Zealand probably irradiate into Polynesia, 

 where the species has a very wide distribution in winter. The young 

 European Cuckoo has never been shown to be " capable of following 

 the old birds to their winter quarters in Africa," though, it is true, 

 the birds of the year winter in Africa. These young Cuckoos are 

 performing their first outward journey, not a return journey — an 

 important distinction Mr. Barrington has evidently failed to realize. 



