Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/154

132 Sandpipers on the rocks at the Devil's Point, Stonehouse; so mauy are not often seen together on this part of the coast. Kittiwakes are now plentiful; and a friend who has just returned from America tells me that Kittiwakes were constantly following in the wake of the ship, the whole way from New York to within about a hundred miles of the coast of Ireland, when their place was taken by Black-backed Gulls, both young and old. He also informed me that the common Sparrow is now as plentiful in New York as in any part of England, and that he was much surprised to see so many varieties among them, a large proportion being more or less marked with white. Can this be owing to change of climate? Whilst on the subject of varieties I may here mention that it Chaffinch having a pure white tail has lately been seen near Plymouth; a Bullfinch has been caught, with the top of its head white; and a few days since I examined a pretty pied Blackbird, strange to say the largest bird of its species I ever saw. During January, considering the general mildness of the weather, a tolerable number of Wigeon and Teal were exposed for sale in our market, together with an adult female Goosander, a young Goldeneye, and a few Pochards. Occasionally I heard flocks of Wigeon flying up the River Tamar after dark. A little Grebe was brought to a local bird-stuffer, with its breast still clouded with dusky as in the breeding season, but without any traces of chestnut on the cheeks; its stomach contained nothing but the remains of shrimps. On February 1st I examined a common Guillemot, which had already assumed its full breeding dress; and on the 10th observed Larus ridibundus, showing apparently the full dark head; and by the 19th several more in various states of change. On this date I first heard the spring cry of the Herring Gull, and was much interested in watching thirteen Herons in the middle of a ploughed field among flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers. About one half the Herons were at rest, but the others cautiously stalking about the field, with partially contracted necks, which were often darted forward, apparently to strike at earthworms, grubs, and insects. On the 20th February a Bartailed Godwit was killed near Plymouth—a very uncommon species with us at this season, but tolerably numerous in the autumn and sometimes during spring. Chaffinches are now in full song, and I have remarked Pied Wagtails in perfect breeding dress. A gentleman shooting on Dartmoor, not long since, killed a Snipe, but before lie could pick it up, a falcon, or hawk of some species, dashed down and carried it off. Instances of this kind, I have heard, are not very uncommon; indeed, when shooting from a boat, I have known Dunlins carried off from the water, by the larger Gulls, in a similar manner. —

—With regard to Mr. E.T. Booth's remarks (p. 100) on the "Migration of Birds in the