Page:Auk Volume 13-1896.djvu/114

﻿ Since then I have looked in many books for something about the feeding habits of Loons but have found nothing. If it is a habit of theirs to eat these mussels, my specimen simply began too early; if not, either it was too enterprising or too curious and tried to pick out the inmate from its shell gaping open upon the bottom, or else while probing for some- thing else in the sand it accidentally pushed its lower bill into the open shell, with the results above detailed. At all events the incident may show something to those fitted to interpret it.—, Northampton, Mass.

'Gull Dick' Again.—'Gull Dick' returned again (see Auk, IX, p. 227; X, p. 76; XI, p. 73 ; XII, p. 76) on the evening of April 6, 1895, in company with a young Gull, lie being hungry was fed as usual, and after satisfying his appetite flew around the lightship and, in company with the young Gull, took his departure. I had but little hope that I should ever hear of his return. I was consequently agreeably surprised on receiving a letter from Captain Edward Fogarty, dated Oct. 2, 1895, informing me that 'Dick' had arrived that morning at sunrise for the twenty-fourth season. He looked in much better condition than last season, his feathers being smooth, with nothing of the ragged appearance he presented on his arrival last year. He seemed pretty hungry on being fed at There was another Gull with him, but evidently not a friend, as ' Dick ' would not allow him to partake of any of his breakfast.—, Nantucket, Mass.  An Early Description of Phalacrocorax dilophus.—The unpublished journal of David Thompson, of the old North West Company, Book No. 25, bound in Vol. XI, folio 46, date Thursday, Maj 9, 181 1, when the celebrated traveller and surveyor was on certain headwaters of the Columbia River, has the following: "1 Cormorant. They are plenty. This had tine green eyes, the hall black, the eyelids marked with blue like very small beads to a button hole, and the neck ami head a tine glossy bright black with a bunch of side feathers on each side the back of the head."—, Washington, D. C.

Another Harlequin Duck Record for Long Island.—A male Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) was shot at Orient Point (directly opposite Plum Island, L. I., where the species has formerly been taken) on November 11, 1895, and was mounted by a local bird stuffer. A female accompanied the male but was not procured. The male is now in the pos- session of Mrs. James Douglas of Orient, L.I.—, Shelter Island Heights, N. Y.

Olor buccinator in Western Minnesota.—It was not until 1893 that I observed this truly noble bird for the first time. Since then not less than seven specimens have come to my notice. The species is, however, not