RURAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
I8? 
was a variety, its back being white, whilst its head and tail, were of a dirty 
grey.-^W. Nicholson, Junior, Lambert Polytechnic. 
A winter ramble in Yorkshire. —Whilst walking on the high road, 
between Cliff and Skipwith Common, on the morning of the eighth of 
January, 1894, about 10 a.m., I noticed a male goldfinch (C. elegans ) in 
splendid plumage, busily flitting along from one thistle stem to another. 
The ground at the time was thickly covered with snow. It frequently 
allowed me to approach within three or four yards of it and, despite the 
severity of the morning, I took advantage of this familiarity, to observe 
its sprightly movements for some twenty minutes. Although I have been a 
close observer of nature in very many districts in Yorkshire, and especially in 
the neighbourhood of York for the past twenty years, this was the first occasion 
I had had of seeing C. elegans in a state of nature. The other birds of interest 
noticed, during my walk, were two males and one female, bullfinch (A*, eurcpaea ) 
a large flock of wild ducks ( Anas boscvs), a small party of cole tits ( Parus 
ater and several flocks of fieldfares ( T. pilaris).— William Hewett, Howard 
Street, York. 
Curious Dtick's egg. —Some time ago, I had a very strange egg given to 
me. It wa c laid by a pure white tame duck. At the top it is of a dull greyish 
green, and about the middle there is a thick belt of very dark green—almost 
black—gradually paling towards the base where it again darkens abruptlv. I 
should like to know if any of your readers have ever observed a similar case.— 
E. B. Lloyd, Finsbury Park, n. 
Oological notes from Ludlow. —I found a long tailed tit’s [Acredula rosea), 
nest, with four eggs in it, on April 16, and I had four pheasant’s eggs brought 
me on the 17th, which I think is rather early for them. On the 20th, I 
found another long-tailed tit’s, with ten eggs in. A friend of mine, was 
out nesting, on the 5th inst, and he came across a blackbird’s nest, with 
sire eggs in,, five of which were of the normal type and markings, but the 
other one, was exceedingly small, it being no larger than a chiffchafFs egg. 
It is perfectly round, and has very similar markings to the other ones found 
in the nest. Upon being blown, it was found that there was no yolk m it. I 
have never seen one so small before, and I should like to know if any other 
reader of the Naturalists' Journal, has seen or heard of a similar egg. What 
is the cause of its being so small ? Is it due to the bird being nearly exhausted 
and not enough calcareous matter left, to form an egg of the typical size ? A 
cousin of mine, went out collecting yesterday, and found a goldfinch’s ( Carduelis 
elegans's) nest, with five in, a cole tit’s [Parus brita?inicus ), with four, and a 
missel thrush’s [Turdus viscivorus), with four. The first and last are very rare 
about here. 
FISH. 
Glyccra alba with two tails. —A specimen of rock-bait with two tails, was 
exhibited at the February meeting of the Guernsey Natural Science Society and 
presented to the museum by Mr. Gasnier. 
The Herring and Herring Fisheries. —A very interesting paper upon the 
herring and the herring fisheries was read at the January meeting of the Great 
Yarmouth Naturalist’s Society, the report of which reached us too late for 
insertion. Mr. Hotblack, the author, began with an account of the fishing 
season at Stornoway, and working along the coast, he came at last to the 
neighbourhood of our own port, from which he took his audience right away 
to the far south. He pointed to the difference in the character of the fish in 
various localities, and expressed an opinion that the delicious “ longshores,” 
like the wild duck and other denizens of the Norfolk and Suffolk marshes, 
really belonged to the home waters, and had little or no connection with the 
