Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/280

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THE ZOOLOGIST

anything to do with its southern migration I cannot say, but the bird appeared in other respects perfect in form and condition. — E.H. Rodd (Penzance).

[The Grey Phalarope, when going northward to breed in spring, apparently travels by a different route to that which it takes when migrating southward in autumn. At the latter season it passes through the British Islands ofteu in large numbers, but in spring it is very rarely seen in the red plumage. This change of route is very curious, and deserves investigation. — Ed.]

Cuckoo Laying Two Eggs in One Nest. — About two years ago, 1 found two Cuckoo's eggs in a Hedge-Sparrow's nest, both apparently laid by one bird, as neither was similar to any other Cuckoo's egg I have ever taken, but more resembled the Pied Wagtail's eggs in colour. I mention this as in the Introduction to " Montagu's Dictionary of British Birds," it is stated that "Where two eggs have been found in one nest, they certainly were laid by different birds." I think the above affords strong proof that one Cuckoo does sometimes lay two eggs in the same nest. — Arthur Beale (Chiddingstone, Kent).

Blackcap in County Dublin. — On two occasions, during the second week in June, I observed a male Blackcap warbler {Sylvia atricapilla) in my garden by the Liffey, near Lucan, Co. Dublin. On both occasions it was feeding on cherries, under a net which hung in the tree. I never saw it in this county before. — J.F. Shackleton (Anna Liffey House, Lucan).

[The Blackcap, although a regular summer visitant to Ireland, appears to be very local there. — Ed.]

A New Fossil Bird.— From a recent Bulletin of the 'United States Survey of the Territories,' it appears that the remains of a passerine bird of high organisation have been discovered at Florissant, in Colorado. Although certain portions of the head are wantiug, the remains include the greater part of the skeleton and nearly all the bones of the anterior and posterior extremities. The impressions of the wings and tail on the rock are so clear as to show even the shafts and barbs of the feathers. The bird was evidently of arboreal habits and well-developed powers of flight, and although the absence of bill renders it impossible to decide with certainty the family to which the species may have belonged, it is thought to be allied to the Finches. Mr. J.A. Allen has described it under the name Palæospiza bella.


A Rare Crustacean from Mount's Bay, Cornwall. — I have just had brought to me the tubes of a large colony of Cerapus of some sort, found attached to a rock near St. Michael's Mount. I am unable to determine the precise species, as my informant, with the best possible intentions,