78 



NOTES ORNITHOLOGY. 



Velvet Duck. (Edemia fusca L. 



North Sunderland, July 1846. Female. 

 Northumberland, 1834. Young female. 

 Great Auk. Alca impennis L. 



Though the collection contains two specimens of the Great 

 Auk, they are not local ones, but in the case which contains the 

 Great Auk from the Allan Museum there is an upper mandible of 

 a Great Auk, which was discovered in 1878 with a lot of bones of 

 various kinds in a cave at Whitburn Lizards, near Sunderland. 



There seems to be Httle doubt that the Farne Islands were at 

 one time a breeding place for this now extinct bird. 



NOTES— ORNITHOLOG Y. 



Ringed Guillemots near Redcar.— I made a rather lucky shot on the 

 14th inst. from a boat off Redcar, killing four Guillemots with two shots from a 

 i2-bore, two with each barrel. On picking them up I found three were the Ringed 

 variety, the fourth one being the ordinary form of Lomvia troile. Guillemots and 

 Razorbills {Alca torda) have been very abundant off the coast during the past 

 week. — T. H. Nelson, Apsley House, Redcar, January 15th, 1887. 



Water-rail near Louth, Lincolnshire.— A specimen of this bird 

 {Rallus aquatiais) was sent to me on 22nd December which liad been shot the day 

 before by Mr. R. Chatterton's keeper on the river Bain, some seven miles south- 

 west of Louth. — H. Wallis Kew, Louth, December 30th, 1886. 



Blackbird laying in Thrush's Nest. — An instance of the above came 

 under my notice in April last. I was rambling over the Sewage Farm and Oakdale 

 Estate, flarrogate, and on coming near a holly-bush a Blackbird ( Turdus inerida) 

 iiew out ; thinking that it would have a nest near at hand, I looked for it, and 

 was very much astonished to find that the Blackbird had deposited its eggs (four in 

 number) in the nest of a Thrush. I mentioned this to Mr. A. W. Thomas, the 

 owner of the estate, and he informs me that one of his sons had informed him of a 

 similar instance occurring during the previous year on this estate. Mr. W. Storey, 

 of Pateley, also informs me that he has noticed cases of the Blackbird laying in 

 Thrush's nest in Nidderdale.— F. R. Fitzgerald, Harrogate, Dec. 20th, 1886. 



Albino Birds observed near Harrogate.— I do not know of the 



following albinos having previously been recorded, A pied specimen of the 

 Blackbird ( Tjcrdtis vierula) has for the last three years frequented Harlow Moor. 

 A pied Sparrow ( Passer doviestiats) has been observed for some months in one of 

 the main thoroughfares— Parliament Street. In the summer of 1884, Mr. J. 

 Simpson, of Birk Crag, shot a perfectly white Skylark [Alaiida arveiisis). During 

 the same year Mr. Hy. Heaton shot, in the fields adjoining the Hydropathic 

 Establishment, a smoky- white Starling [Sturnns vulgaris), the bill and legs of 

 which are of a pinkish-white colour. On the 3rd inst. Mr. R. Wood, Oatlands, 

 Harrogate, informed me that he had on the previous day observed frequenting his 

 stack-yard a pied Robin, the back and tail of which were perfectly white, the 

 remaining parts being of the usual colour. — F. R. FiTZGERALD, Harrogate, 

 January 5th, 1887. 



Birds at Flamborough. — The late gales have brought several rare birds 

 from the far north. WTien at Bridlington the other day, I saw two Great Northern 

 Divers {Colymbiis arcticus) at Mr. Barkley's, bird stulfer, who informed me that 

 they were shot in Bridlington Bay; also Black Guillemot {Uria grylle) shot 

 at same time, ^Monday, January 4th. Mr. J. T. Woodhouse, of Flamborough, 

 when walking on the beach after one of those great storms saw living on the rocks 

 in a very sickly state a Great Northern Diver, which he picked up and brought to 

 me. The Glaucous Gull {Larus glaiicus) has also appeared, on our coast. — 

 Matthew Bailey, January iith, 1887. 



Naturalist, 



