Birds. 



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before fully fledged, kept well during the winter, and set at liberty the following spring 

 near such localities as their parents had chosen for nidification. If during this season 

 any young sand grouse are reared in England or on the Continent, I am sure one or 

 other of them will turn up on Heligoland. — H. Gatke ; Heligoland, July, 1863. 



Colour of the Eggs of the Golden Plover. — I have lung observed, with no little per- 

 plexity, the remarkable variety of colour which occurs among the eg»s of the golden 

 plover, and the regularity with which each colour in its turn predominates according 

 to the advancement of the season. Every year I see large numbers of the eggs, and 

 the general rule appears to be that those which are laid early in the season have a 

 dingy hue, the ground colour being strongly tinged with dull olive-green, and that a 

 little later this commences gradually to become less frequent, giving place to creamy 

 ■white, sometimes richly tinged with warm yellowish brown: the latter colour is deepest 

 and most common in June and July, when the breeding season is drawing to its close. 

 At this time, also, the spots and blotches are very abundant, and more of a reddish 

 brown. — Henry L. Saxby ; Baltasound, Shetland , July 14, 1863. 



Green Variety of the Oyster catcher's Egg. — A very uncommon variety of the oyster- 

 catcher's egg has just been brought to me, its general hue being pale grayish green, 

 a colour which I have never before observed in the egg of this species. The spots are 

 unusually small, and chiefly confined to the broad end. Two other eggs found in the 

 same nest are of the usual colour. — Id. 



Redshank breeding in Shetland. — The redshank is very frequently described as 

 breeding regularly in Shetland, but, whatever the case may have been in former times, 

 it is very certain that the nest is now very seldom met with here. During the last 

 six years I have only twice seen the nest, although I have heard of its discovery upon 

 two other occasions. The eggs are very rarely to be seen in the collections of the 

 Shetland dealers. — Id. 



The Squacco Heron (Ardea comata) in Norfolk. — A magnificent adult male of this 

 beautiful species was killed on Surlingham Broad, near Norwich, on the 26ih of June. 

 Being from home at the time I unfortunately did not see it in the flesh, and cm there- 

 fore say nothing as to the contents of the stomach or the true colours of the bill, legs, 

 &c, which I much regret, as the bird is so rarely met with in England. This species 

 has occurred in Norfolk before in two or three well-authenticated instances, but not 

 within the last thirty years. — H. Stevenson; Norwich, August 2, 1863. 



Note on the Orangelegged Hobby in Suffolk. — I have recently purchased a young 

 male of this species, which was killed at Somerleyton station, near Lowestoft, on the 

 12th of July, 1862. The bird had been seen and shot at once or twice by the station- 

 master, but was secured at last by a gamekeeper on the Somerleyton estate, who sold 

 it to a birdstuffer in this city. The bird is somewhat rough in plumage, having but 

 just commenced moulting its adult feathers. The last specimen observed in the 

 eastern counties was killed near Norwich in 1843,— a fine old male, now in our Museum. 

 — Id. 



Capture of the Black Swan near Beverley. — Early in the morning of the 1st inst. a 

 labouring man observed a strange bird on the river Hull, near to a hamlet called 

 Baswick, situated between six and seven miles above Beverley, and about the same 

 distance from the sea, as the crow flies. He succeeded in stalking and securing it, 

 and it was brought to me for sale. This bird proved to be a fine male specimen of 

 the black swan {Cygnus atralus). It is at present in the hands of Mr. R. Richardson, 

 taxidermist, &c, Beverley, who has been entrusted with the charge of mounting it. 



