Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/550

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THE ZOOLOGIST.

arundinaceus and streperus are adjectives. The British form of Parus ater, L., and Acredula caudata (L.) I have not recognized, because in such a matter I am content to accept the conclusions of Professor Newton, as given in his revision of Yarrell's standard work. The authority of Brehm for Regulus ignicapillus rests on the statement of Temminck, in his 'Manuel' published in 1820. Jenyns certainly, in the work quoted by your reviewer, wrote "nob." after the name in 1835: but as he quotes Temminck's long previous usage of the same name, he was probably merely alluding to himself as having been the first to identify the bird in this country in 1832. On the testimony of Mr. Dresser ('Birds of Europe,' parts 47 and 48) and Professor Newton, Tunstall in 1771 did forestall Gmelin's description of Falco peregrinus in 1788. In 'The Ibis' for last July (p. 332) the reviewer will find that Mr. J.H. Gurney has satisfied himself that the two Spotted Eagles killed in Cornwall were both of them examples, not of Aquila nævia (Gm.), but of Aquila clanga (Pallas). Mr. Howard Saunders lias given satisfactory reasons (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1876) why the name Sterna macrura, Naumann, should take precedence of Sterna hirundo, L. In Mr. Dresser's 'Birds of Europe,' parts 59 and 60, it is shown that Brünnich's Guillemot cannot be called Alca arra, for under that name Pallas referred to a totally distinct species. In thus replying to the invitation of my reviewer, I cannot in courtesy conclude without expressing my thanks to him for pointing out the mistaken admission of Ereunetes pusillus (L.). The species should indeed rightly have appeared as Tringa minutilla, Vieillot (1819); for it may be observed that Wilson's name pusilla (1813) cannot stand, on account of its previous application by Linnæus to a species since shown to be distinct.—Henry T. Wharton.

Green Sandpiper in the Co. Mayo.—On the 30th September a Green Sandpiper appeared here, and took up its quarters at a little pool close to the shore. I made several unsuccessful attempts to shoot it; but, owing to its wildness, I was unable to do so until the 4th October. It proved to be a young bird, probably on its southward migration. The little pool is about thirty yards in length by six or eight in width, and is separated by a wall from the shores of the Estuary. On the other side it is surrounded by low trees, having a few yards of flat grassy bank between the water and trees. It appears to have some special attraction for Green Sandpipers, for the only birds of that species obtained or seen in this district were all observed at the same spot. The first Green Sandpiper I ever met with I shot there on the 12th January, 1866; and on the 25th August, 1873, my friend Mr. A.G. More saw a pair there, one of which he shot. The bird above mentioned as having been obtained on the 4th of last October makes the fourth seen here and the third specimen obtained. The extreme quickness of sight and wild flight are well and graphically described by Mr. Harvie Brown in his notice of the Green Sandpiper in Stirlingshire