Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/519

Rh marvellous, and entitles them fully to the name "Water Witch."

They are very shy, but I once surprised one asleep on a flat stone, as much to my astonishment as to the bird's. All the specimens I saw were in immature plumage, wanting the black bar on the bill and the black throat-patch.

Mergulus alle, Little Auk; Sea Dove.—Mr. Hurdis says, "One of these birds was captured alive on the 28th January, 1850, by a servant of the Rev. J.U. Campbell at Ireland Island. It was in company with four or five others on a piece of grass-land near that gentleman's house. Unfortunately this specimen was destroyed by a pig before I had an opportunity of seeing it. My information was obtained from Mr. Campbell himself, who had this bird in his possession."

Wembury again on June 12th I found the young Gulls much grown, and observed many of the old ones searching for food in a ploughed field adjoining the cliffs. Among the various marine animals with which the young Gulls are fed, I think small cuttlefish must form a portion, as I have remarked the so-called back bones, or internal shells, of those creatures lying near the nests. The Peregrines I am sorry to say appear to have entirely left the locality. On the 13th Cuckoos were very plentiful on the borders of Dartmoor, and I noticed a young one, perched on an old wall, being fed by a Pied Wagtail. A Turtle Dove has just been brought to a Stonehouse bird-stuffer; and I mention this as the species is rarely met with in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. Some years ago the Collared Turtle, Turtur risorius, was occasionally killed by our gamekeepers, apparently in a wild state, and sent to be preserved for the British species; indeed, it was said to breed in some of our large woods and plantations; but I have neither seen nor heard of the capture of a specimen since. Some of our bird-stuffers, too, believed that these birds were natives, and seemed astonished on being told the contrary. But of course all the specimens must, in the first place, have escaped from confinement.

When visiting the banks of the River Lyd, on June 18th, I was pleased to see several young Water Ouzels making short flights