the telegraph-wires, and it is probable that the injury to this one was caused in the same way. It seems lamentable that the Little Bittern cannot regain its status as a nesting species in England. The specimen I am recording has been acquired for the Devonport Public Museum.—H.M. Evans (Plymouth).
Puffin off the Coast of Kerry.—A Puffin (Fratercula arctica), pure white, with the exception of the wings, which are of the ordinary colour, was obtained off the coast of Kerry. The bird presented a very striking appearance after death, the colouring of the beak and legs showing strongly against the snow-white plumage of the back, head, and breast. The bird was a male.—Williams & Son (2, Dame Street, Dublin).
The Origin of the Name "Fulmar."—I am sorry to have delayed my reply to Mr. Meiklejohn, but I did so in the hope of being in town, and having an opportunity of fully ventilating this subject. There can be no doubt that the term "Fowmart" was constantly applied to the Polecat, because we have abundant proof of it in old Scottish documents. But that the term of Fowmart or Foul Mart came to be transferred to the Fulmar is, to my mind, improbable. The great 'Dictionary of the Gaelic Language,' published by the Highland Society in 1828, is the only Gaelic dictionary I happen to possess. It accepts the term Fulmair as a Gaelic term without question. I should have expected this, because Prof. Newton, the late Mr. Robert Gray, and other eminent naturalists have done the same. The actual origin of the Gaelic name Fulmair or Falmair is a question for experts to settle. Maclean supplies the very simple explanation that Fulmair signifies sottish or stupid ('Sketches of the Island Saint Kilda,' p. 8). This would suit the bird appropriately enough, in view of its apparent stupidity in allowing a noose to be dropped over its head. Jamieson suggests that the term Fulmar may bear some analogy to the Danish name hav-hest, i.e. sea-horse; for the Icelandic fula signifies a foal, and mar signifies the sea ('Scottish Dictionary,' vol. ii. p. 319). I hope that some more competent authority may perhaps be induced to clear this matter up. At all events, I think we may dismiss the suggestion that the Gaelic Fulmair is identical with Foulmart or Foumart; unless, indeed, some strong corroborative evidence can be supplied. — H.A. Macpherson (Pitlochry).
REPTILIA.
The Sand-Lizard in the North of England.—In the recent volume of the Cambridge Natural History on "Amphibia and Reptiles,"
