saw a large animal, that he at first thought was a Sturgeon, in shallow water at the head of Mayland Creek, between Canney and Steeple Hall. He very pluckily attacked it, drove it on the saltings, and disabled it by means of a piece of old gaspipe that he had with him. He then fetched his father, Mr. Edmund Cardnell; they had then considerable difficulty in despatching it with large butcher's knives. I went to inspect the specimen while it was being cut up for manure by Mr. Nix, of Steeple Hall, and found it to be a young female Lesser Rorqual (Balænoptera rostrata). It measured just under 17 ft. in length, was black above, but paler on its ventral surface; the baleen was short, and with the bristly fringe was pale in colour. The flukes measured 6 ft. 3 in. across, and 1 ft. 2 in. wide in their widest part. The flippers, 27 in. by 6 in., were of a beautiful enamel whiteness on their central surface, but dark at each end. The head was 4 ft. in length, the lower jaws measuring 2 ft. 6 in. I also measured the gut, resembling a two-inch hose, for over twenty-four yards, and then did not get to the end. Mr. Nix estimated the carcase to weigh over two tons, as it was more than a load for two strong horses to drag.—Edward A. Fitch (Maldon, Essex).
AVES.
Occurrence of the Melodious Warbler in Sussex.—On the 10th of May last an example of Hypolais polyglotta (Vieill.) was shot near Ninfield, and sent, together with some other birds, to Mr. George Bristow, Jun. I had the satisfaction of seeing the bird in the flesh, and I at once suspected its identity. On taking Dr. Ernst Hartert to view the specimen, he agreed with me in referring it to this species, and was able to match it with examples of H. polyglotta from the South of France. Mr. Howard Saunders also has examined the bird, and is satisfied that it is rightly identified. It proved on dissection to be a male. As pointed out by Mr. Saunders ('The Ibis,' 1897, p. 628), the Melodious Warbler may be distinguished from the Icterine Warbler (H. icterina) by being somewhat smaller, by the distinctly larger bastard-primary, the relatively shorter wing, and by the second quill being shorter than the fifth, the reverse being the case with the latter species. The present forms the second record of the undoubted occurrence of the Melodious Warbler in Britain.—W. Ruskin Butterfield (4, Stanhope Place, St. Leonards-on-Sea).
The Sardinian Warbler.—To avoid possible confusion in the future, it may be well to point out that the proper name for the "Sardinian Warbler" (ante, p. 450), which is common at Gibraltar, is Sylvia melanocephala. I do not find the true Sylvia sarda, now known as Melizophilus sardus (Marm.), Marmora's Warbler, included in Col. Irby's 'Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar.'— O.V. Aplin.
