Ornithological Notes from Shetland.—A specimen of Buffon's Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus) was obtained on May 24th, a male in full plumage, measuring from tip of beak to tip of central tail-feathers, 213⁄4 in.; the central tail-feathers were 115⁄8 in. in length. The stomach contained a few small beetles and some vegetable matter like tops of heather. I am not aware that the bird has ever been recorded as visiting Shetland. The Blackbird (Turdus merula), usually described as merely a visitor to our isles, is now resident throughout the year, and has nested and brought out young for several years past. A pair built a nest in the honeysuckle which grows on the south wall of our house; four eggs were laid, but a marauding fiend of a cat upset all the domestic arrangements, and the birds have disappeared. I have been watching for some time past another nest built by a pair of Blackbirds in a loose stone wall close by the house, and to-day (May 26th) I was pleased to hear the chirping of young birds, and to see the old male carrying food to and fro. The season has been very bleak and cold; the leaves are only appearing on the trees now, and this, together with the desire to circumvent the odious cats, may have induced this particular pair of Blackbirds to abandon their usual habit of building in a shrub, and flee for security to a stone fortress. I am very much amused with a Starling which haunts this house; his power of imitating is excellent. I have heard him imitating perfectly the Blackbird, Hooded Crow, Corn Bunting, my police-whistle, and the neighing of a Horse.—T. Edmondston Saxby (Halligarth, Baltasound, Shetland, N.B.).
AVICULTURAL NOTES.
Hybrid Doves.—Homer Pigeon ♂ X Collared Turtle ♀.—While in Manchester the other day I called upon Mr. Fred Muirhead, of Barnfield, Prestwich, to see his interesting little collection of living animals and birds, and more especially to examine a hybrid betwixt a cock Homer Pigeon and a hen Turtur risorius that I had heard of. It is a male, and was bred in 1899. Its parents were not regularly paired, as it was the result of illicit intercourse, the male parent having already his own household located in the same aviary close beside the Turtle. In appearance the hybrid is of bolder carriage and smarter figure than a Turtle-Dove, while in colour it is all over of a much darker shade, wanting the dark collar, or any indication of it. The neck shows a beautiful vinous reflection similar to that of many dun or red-coloured Pigeons. Across the terminal third of the tail there is an indication of a dark bar. In size it is decidedly larger than the Turtle, slim and elegant in outline. The voice differs markedly from either the Pigeon or the Turtle, and appears to me, allowing of course for the lesser volume of sound, to be exceedingly similar to that of the Wood-Pigeon (Columba palumbus). The hybrid (only one bird of the mésalliance was
