350 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



seems rare in London in mature plumage ; at least I never could 

 see one during all the hard weather last winter). — H. G. Atlee 

 (Wimbledon). 



Cormorant in Warwickshire. — I wonder if it is possible for Mr. 

 0. V. Aplin to re-examine the Cormorant sent to him for identification, 

 and which was killed on Sept. 8th, 1908." From the length (32 in.) 

 and weight (3| lb.), I am somewhat certain the bird was not a 

 Common Cormorant (P.carbo), but a Green Cormorant (P. graculus). 

 My reasons for this conclusion are that the average weight of adult 

 Green Cormorants varies between 3 lb. 8 oz. and 5 lb. 2 oz., the 

 weights of immature Green Cormorants from 3 lb. 3 oz. to 4 lb. 10 oz. 

 The average length of both adults and immatures seems to be from 

 28 in. to 30 in. In the Common Cormorant the weights run from 

 81b. to 91b., and average length from 38 in. to 40 in. The above 

 weights and measurements are taken from a series of both species in 

 my collection, all of which were weighed and measured by me. The 

 wing-measurement in the example under notice would go far towards 

 a satisfactory identification. — F. Smalley. 



The Bean Goose on the Solway. — We are sorry we were not able 

 to reply earlier to Mr. H. W. Robinson's remarks (ante, p. 270) on the 

 records of Bean Geese and the note mentioning the nesting of Wigeon 

 at Bassenthwaite in April, 1908, as recorded in the Natural History 

 Bureau of the Carlisle Museum, for we were from home during the 

 intervening time. When we state in these records that a species has 

 been seen we are quite sure that the person making the record is 

 perfectly competent to identify the species, and that there is no doubt 

 as to the correct identification. Our opening note in the records for 

 1908 points out that we do not accept such notes unless we know 

 that the person sending them is competent to identify the species 

 recorded. Mr. Nichol is not only a wildfowler of thirty years' expe- 

 rience, but is a keen and observant ornithologist whose knowledge of 

 the birds of the Solway is unequalled by anyone in the district, and 

 whose word was never questioned by such an eminent ornithologist 

 as the late H. A. Macpherson. We quite agree that it is difficult for 

 an inexperienced person to distinguish between the calls of the various 

 kinds of Geese, but Mr. Nichol' s life-long and daily intercourse with 

 the wild life of the Solway enables him to identify immediately any 

 of the birds which ordinarily visit the firth, and even our own more 

 limited experience would not allow us to confound the call of the Grey 

 Lag with that of either the Bean or Pink-foot. Of course we are 



* Cf. ante, p. 315. 



