Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/49

Rh On skinning and dissecting them I found that my surmise as to sex was incorrect, for all three proved to be females, having eggs in the ovaries varying in size from No. 8 to B shot.— (Moyview, Ballina, Co. Mayo).

—I have a very curious instance to give you of the attractive power of bright lights on birds. On or about August 29th, 1876, the officers of one of Her Majesty's regiments were seated at mess at Dover, and, the night being warm, the windows were open, when, to their great astonishment, they saw numbers of small birds coming in, while they were sitting at dinner. The building in which they were stands high up on the Castle Cliff, and any migrants journeying over the sea or along the shore would readily be attracted by it, when brilliantly lighted up, as it was on this occasion. A regular hunt ensued, and about a hundred birds were presently caught. Whether that was all, or whether any got away, my informant did not know. A few which were brought to him to name were Common Redstarts and Garden Warblers, and from the description of the officers it appeared that some of the others were Wagtails. On the same night the Swifts were affected in the same way as the small birds which flew into the officers' mess-room. My father, who chanced to be passing through Dover, was sleeping at the Lord Warden Hotel, and in his sitting-room was a chandelier of gas, and three times Swifts, attracted by the glare of it, flew against the panes of glass. I have no doubt it was a dark night, but it was not observed to be unusually so, and no note was taken of the direction of the wind, or whether it was foggy or not.— (Northrepps, Norwich).

—A Pied Flycatcher was killed near Williton in April, and brought to me for identification in September last. Perhaps I should have heard of it sooner had there not been some possible " qualms of conscience" about the Bird Act. This bird so seldom occurs in this part of the county— in fact, I think only one Somerset specimen has been noted in ' The Zoologist' since Mr. Haddon's was obtained near Taunton some time before 1871— that I am very sceptical as to the correctness of Mr. Crotch's note on its breeding in this county, in the ' Proceedings ' of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. The Black Redstart is by no means so uncommon, especially along the coast, where I think it may be considered a regular, though never a numerous, autumnal visitant. The bird in question, an adult female, was taken in the town of Taunton about the 14th November, and kept alive for a short time by its captor, but he does not appear to have known much about it, for he fed it on hemp-seed, and consequently starved it. It was eventually brought to me for identification minus the head, which had been eaten by the cat.— (Bishop's Lydeard, Taunton).