exactly coincides with your interesting conclusion about the prominent and largely developed "knob " at the base of the bill in the male (p. 374). Pen is a common Welsh word also for "head," and is applied to birds thus: Penddu (pronounced Penthee) the Blackcap; Penaur, the Yellowhammer; Penwyn, the bald Buzzard (i. e. Marsh Harrier). All this is from Dr. Richards' Welsh-English Dictionary, printed at Wrexham, and it seems. to point strongly to Welsh favouritism for the female Swan as the head (pen) of the birds. You will perhaps say this is all pen-gamrwydd, which Dr. Richards delightfully renders "wryness of head"! Surely the Wryneck is humanized-a curious instance of the Welsh worship of birds. The Welsh for "Swan" is Alarch, plural eilarch, a word surely connected with alon, music, and the Whooper "fluting a wild carol ere his death." It may not be amiss to add that our word "eider" is the Welsh ydyr, signifying "downy," and was applied to cygnets at least as early as 1553, as appears from an entry in Kirby's Annals of Winchester College,' p. 276. -H. D. GORDON (Harting Vicarage, Petersfield).

Origin of the terms "Cob" and "Pen."-A propos of your remarks on the derivation of the term "cob," as applied to the male Swan (p. 373), it may interest you to learn that the fishermen here in North Yorkshire make a common use of the word "cop" in referring to a bird's crest. I have occasionally been told that some of the men have seen "a Sawbill (Merganser) with a grand cop," and have heard of "a duck with long feathers in its tail and a white cop" (Long-tailed Drake). Other examples might be cited, but these will suffice to illustrate my meaning. There are still many words in daily use in Cleveland which are almost pure Anglo-Saxon or Danish, no doubt transmitted from the original settlers on these shores, the descendants of whom are to be found in the North Riding.-T. H. NELSON (Sandringham House, Redcar).

Alleged abnormal Nesting of the Goldcrest in Ireland.- In all deference may I suggest that it is hardly correct to refer to the nesting-site of the Golden-crested Wren, Regulus cristatus, against the sides of ivycovered trees as abnormal. Mr. A. T. Mitchell (p. 385) draws attention to the fact that in his experience such is the situation commonly selected in Ireland, in contradistinction, as he believes, to that appropriated for the purpose of nidification by the species in England. I am naturally in ignorance as to whether Mr. Mitchell is writing from personal knowledge of the nesting economy of the Goldcrest in the latter country, or whether his opinion is based on the writings of our standard authorities; but, in any case, I am presumptuous enough to think that silence on the point at issue on the part of those to whom we are accustomed to look for light and leading where the habits of birds are concerned arises from the fact that no small portion of the ornithological literature of these islands is attributable

to praiseworthy compilation rather than original observation. I have found nests of the Goldcrest placed against the sides of ivy-clad trees in some half-dozen instances during my nesting career in England, and my argument is that, if so many could be found by a single individual, there must be very many others which pass unobserved. The first nest I discovered so located was on the banks of the river Lugg, between Mortimer's Cross and Aymestrey, in Herefordshire. Another was by the side of the avenue leading to Plâce Castle, near to Fowey, in Cornwall. Yet another was in the gardens at Nosely Hall, in this county (Leicestershire) In my Original Sketches of British Birds'-a work on the eve of publication-I have made particular allusion to this not altogether unfamiliar situation for the Goldcrest's nest, though I have often marvelled at its being one which authors with common consent have apparently ignored.-H. S. DAVENPORT (Skeffington, Leicester).

6

Abnormal Nesting of the Goldcrest in Ireland.-In the last number of The Zoologist' (p. 385), Mr. A. T. Mitchell mentions that the Goldcrest, Regulus cristatus, commonly builds in ivy-covered trees. I think the following table, taken from my notes of seventeen nests of this species found in the county Dublin, may be of interest :

These statistics tend to support Mr. Mitchell's observations.-J. TRUMBULL (Malahide).

Richardson's Skua at Hastings.-On Aug. 30th a very dark-coloured specimen of Richardson's Skua was shot at Rye, and brought to Bristow, the taxidermist, for preservation. A few days afterwards a very light-coloured one was picked up dead at Sidley, near Bexhill, with an old wound in the eye and the gizzard empty. Both were young birds.-G. W. BRADSHAW.

Roller in Northumberland.-On the morning of 24th Sept. last a good specimen of the Roller, Coracias garrula, was shot in the grounds of Callaly Castle, the ancient seat of the Claverings, about three miles S.W. of Whittingham station on the Alnwick and Cornhill line. I happened to be in the house at the time, and so was able to examine the bird while still quite fresh. It was apparently a bird of the year, but a very good specimen. I believe about a dozen specimens of the Roller are recorded to have been met with in Northumberland during the present century.-H. B. TRISTRAM (Durham).

American Yellow-billed Cuckoo in Dorsetshire.-Noticing the communication under this heading (p. 376), it has struck me that the bird here mentioned is very probably identical with some which travelled for a week with me early in October. I left Boston, Mass., on the steamship Ottoman' on Oct. 1st, and when off Cape Race ten or fifteen birds came on board. There was plenty of hay on the deck, which afforded them shelter and perhaps food. Six or more of them were caught by the engineers, while three others were about the decks up to twenty hours of our making the Irish coast, at 8 a.m. on Oct. 10th. I should think the specimen alluded to might have been blown off a cattle steamer, such as ours was, bound for London. All depends on the identification of the species, and I will try and send you one of our captives to clear up the matter and settle its identity.-RALPH L. NEILSON (Fulwood Park, Liverpool).

[The specimen picked up dead in Dorsetshire, as mentioned p. 376, was found there on Oct. 5th.-ED.]

Honey Buzzard nesting in Herefordshire. The interest in Mr. W. E. de Winton's note on this subject in the most recent issue of The Zoologist' will surely be grievously discounted in the estimation of ardent field-naturalists by the reflection that a most untoward fate has overtaken a beautiful and essentially harmless species. That both male and female should have perished is simply deplorable. It was only four or five years ago, when shooting at Bishops wood, that I stopped to examine a specimen of the Rough-legged Buzzard, Buteo lagopus, which had been killed and gibbeted in one of the woods, and was dangling to and fro in the breeze in company with other less distinguished tattered and decaying frames. As in the instance recorded by Mr. de Winton, the murder had been committed in ignorance of the species, which, so far as I recollect aright, was designated a Goshawk, Astur palumbarius. One had only to take a bird'seye view of Bishops wood and its surroundings to realise that the district was naturally adapted for periodical visits on the part of the rarer Raptores, and I am quite sure that Mr. H. McCalmont, who is a personal friend of mine, and to whom I am writing on the subject, will issue stringent orders that Buzzards and Kites henceforward are not to be molested. explanation that an undiscerning keeper had shot the Honey Buzzards at 2 L ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XIX.—NOV. 1895.

The

Bishopswood in mistake for Kites, will scarcely mitigate what many will deplore, if only from long time association of a charming species with Selborne Hanger and Gilbert White.-H. S. DAVENPORT (Skeffington, Leicester).

Black-winged Stilt in Norfolk.-On Oct. 17th my son shot a very rare bird, the Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus candidus, on the common, about a quarter of a mile from this house. We identified it from the description in Mudie's 'British Birds,' with which it perfectly agrees, and, having ascertained its rarity, forwarded it to Mr. T. E. Gunn, of Norwich, for preservation.-THOMAS MOORE HUDSON (The Manor House, Castleacre.) [The Black-winged Stilt is perhaps the rarest of all the European wading birds which visit us in spring and autumn, never remaining here to breed. We have not heard of one for the past fifteen years, if we except a specimen reported (Zool. 1889, p. 387) to have been shot on the Trent near Nottingham, but subsequently shown (Zool. 1890, p. 25) to have been mounted from a foreign skin and fraudulently put forward as a British specimen by an unscrupulous dealer. One of the last recorded was a bird seen in the marshes between Eastbourne and Polegate by the late Capt. Clark-Kennedy on May 6th, 1880. In 1883 these were reported to have been seen near Rye on Sept. 3rd (Zool. 1883, p. 495), but the species was not satisfactorily identified. They may have been Avocets, or possibly Oystercatchers.-ED.]

Escape of a Caged Eagle.-Under this heading, in The Zoologist for October (p. 380), the fact was announced that a Golden Eagle in the Zoological Gardens at Bristol had contrived by an accident to make its escape. We have since learnt from Mr. H. S. Devonport, of Skeffington, Leicester, that a bird of this species was shot on Oct. 29th in Slate Wood, on the estate of Sir Hugh Cholmeley, Bart., at Easton, and is in the hands of the taxidermist for preservation. This announcement was made in the 'Grantham Journal' of Nov. 9th, where the bird is described as measuring 2 ft. 11 in. in length and 7 ft. 2 in. from tip to tip of wing. General colour a deep brown, mixed with tawny on the head and neck; quills chocolate with white shafts; tail black spotted with ash; legs yellow, feathered down to the toes; bill of a deep blue. Sex male; weight 7 lbs. From the description given by Mr. Devonport of its being seen at Skeffington between Oct. 24th and 28th, when on several occasions it suffered a near approach without showing undue alarm, there can be little doubt that this was the bird which had made its escape three weeks previously.

INSECTS.

Insect Migration.-A propos of this subject, discussed in the last two numbers of this Journal, Mr. E. L. Mitford directs attention to the following information, which is given by Miss Gordon Cumming in her entertaining book of travels entitled 'Two Happy Years in Ceylon' (2 vols.

8vo, Blackwood, 1892). At p. 208 of the first volume this writer observes:"The butterflies of Ceylon are so beautiful and so varied as to be at all times a joy, whether seen singly, when one glorious creature seems for a moment to have the garden to himself, or in companies of radiant joyous little beings. One of the mysteries of the isle is the annual migration in November and December, and at intervals right on to February, of countless myriads of butterflies in vast flights; whence they come and whither going, no one can guess. The migration commences with the setting in of the north-east monsoon, with its cool mornings and bright days; and when the stormy wind blows strongest, these delicate insects, impelled by some inexplicable instinct, force their way against it, and during a couple of months successive legions pass on like an ever-flowing stream. I have collected a few notes of observations made on this subject in different years. Thus, in 1884, swarms of dark-coloured butterflies passed over Kandy and Ratnapura on Nov. 19th. On the following day these were succeeded by swarms of white and yellow ones. In 1887 Mr. Le Mesurier, writing from Nuwara Eliya, noted the first flight of the season on Nov. 18th. The flight lasted the whole day; direction from due south-west to north. Wind from south-west. Colour of butterflies speckled dark brown. The next flight he noticed was on Nov. 21st, when two kinds of butterflies, white and sulphur, continued all day passing right over the summit of Pedro from north to due south. The direction of the wind was from the north-east. On Dec. 10th another observer stated that brown and white butterflies had been in flight for some days, flying south. In 1888 the migration northward in the teeth of the wind was observed at Colombo on Nov. 18th, the great flight of white and yellow butterflies being mingled with some of a darker colour. In 1889 flights were observed in the mountain district of Dimbula, about the middle of October, and at Colombo on Nov. 5th, when dark brown butterflies and yellowish-white ones flew in separate columns at a rate of about ten miles an hour. All the accounts (which might be multiplied by observations from all parts of the island, north, south, east, and west, from Manaar to Galle, and from Trincomalee to Negombo) speak only of brown, white, and yellow insects; hence I infer that the glorious butterflies which most delighted us do not risk becoming food for fishes by any such venturesome flights."

Insect Migration.-I notice a correspondent mentions the abundance of Sphinx convolvuli on the east coast as being the probable result of migration on the part of this insect. It may be of interest, although scarcely bearing out your correspondent's theory, to note that Sphinx convolvuli appears to have been equally plentiful on the west coast of Wales. While staying at Barmouth, during September last, I saw nine of these fine insects caught during two or three nights (five on one night, if I recollect rightly), while hovering over a small patch of tobacco-plants in