CORRESPONDENCE. 
IQ 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
( The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents) 
A White Rook. 
A fine specimen of a pure albino rook (Corvus frugilegus) was 
captured here recently, the bird is in fine condition and is with¬ 
out the slightest trace of a single dark feather. 
Hornchurch. A. Rowe. 
The Magpie Moth. 
In answer to the query in the June number of the Natural¬ 
ists’Journal, I may say that in 1892 I met with Abraxas 
grossulariata somewhat more abundantly than W. Nicholson, 
Junr. In London I found them frequently at Paddington and 
Kensington Gardens. I might also mention that the larvae 
were plentiful enough at Epping Forest, near Chingford, but 
strange to say the imago was rather scarce in that locality, I 
having met with only about four or five specimens during the 
season. J. F. Cordon. 
Notes on Natural History in Thetford District. 
The neighbourhood of Thetford is one that possesses great 
attractions for students of natural history in all its branches. 
Within a radius of ten miles there are huge tracts of heath and 
warren, large woods and plantations, marsh land and rivers, and 
several large sheets of water called “ meres.” Thus it embraces 
varieties of country which serve as the habitat of most British 
inland species of birds. 
The “ brecks ” of this district will long be remembered by 
naturalists as the last stronghold of the great bustard, and . 
perhaps in a few years time as that of the Norfolk plover. This 
bird nevertheless seems to be as plentiful as usual this year on 
Thetford Warren. On May nth, during the evening, I heard 
about twenty calling to one another at one time ; their note 
being first short and indistinct, then immediately shrill and 
continued. Several ringed plovers or “ stonehatches ” were 
busy with their nesting operations and together with the lap¬ 
wings seemed to greatly resent my intrusion. 
The wild fowl on our rivers and meres are certainly increasing, 
no doubt no account of the decreased navigation. On Jan. 
19th I counted 27 coots on the Little Ouse near the two-mile 
bottom, and on March 31st there must have been over 100 on 
Fowlmere, besides huge flocks of wild duck. I saw a brood of 
six moorhens at Euston on April 29th, and over a dozen in 
a reach of about half a mile on May 13th. 
The main body of swallows arrived earlier this year than last 
but whereas I saw the first arrivals on April 6th in 1892, I did 
not see them till the 13th this year, which is, I think, the 
average date of their arrival here. Swifts or “ screech owls,” as 
