284 Zoology. 



The Imher {Colymhus I'mmer Lin,). — A fine specimen of 

 this bird was shot in the river Teign, in the autumn of 1830, 

 and is now in the collection of H. H. Hele, Esq., of Ash- 

 burton. This bird is, without doubt, the young of the C. gla- 

 cialis (in the above specimen the rings on the neck are very 

 apparent), common on the coast of Newfoundland and La- 

 brador. — W. R. Jordan, Lugehay^ Teignmouth, Dec, 4. 1831. 



Notes on the Starling {Sturnus vulgaris), — Large flocks of 

 this bird resort to the fir plantations in this neighbourhood, 

 to roost during the winter and latter months of summer; 

 they also take up their quarters for the night in the reed beds 

 in the immediate vicinity of the river Trent. These birds 

 are often seen in company with the rooks (Corvus frugilegus), 

 and are in the habit of frequenting pastures with their larger 

 companions. Their food, possibly, consists of the same 

 species of worms, slugs, grubs, &c. They fly round their 

 roosting places many times, performing numberless curious 

 evolutions, before they finally settle for the night, and in 

 such compact bodies, that immense numbers of them have 

 been brought to the ground by a single discharge of a fowl- 

 ing-piece. On June 23. 1831, I saw a large flock, probably 

 four or five families, flying towards their roosting place, which 

 I considered rather early. White ones are sometimes seen ; 

 I observed a rara avis of this description amongst his darker 

 companions last winter. They will often build under the 

 rooks' nests in the rookery, and thus appear something like 

 dependants. — Scolopax rustkola, Chilwell, Oct. 21. 1831. 



The following Remarks on the Starling are incidentally pre- 

 sented in the Gramina Britannica of J. L. Knapp, Esq. 

 F.L.S., author of the Journal of a Naturalist, They will be 

 found under the description of the common reed (^rundo 

 Phragmites), plate 95. : — 



" v/rundo Phragmites is a plant that the agriculturist pays 

 no attention to, but to eradicate ; yet in rural economy it 

 justly holds a distinguished rank : in many of the lowlands 

 in the counties of Huntingdon, Cambridge, and Lincoln it 

 constitutes the crop of the soil, and is harvested with con- 

 siderable care, and from thence is exported and spread 

 through the neighbouring counties, being made use of as 

 a thatch for barns, cottages, and outhouses ; which proves to 

 be less expensive, and moi-e durable, than other vegetable 

 materials. The injury that is done, towards the end of 

 autumn [reed is not cut until after Christmas], to this valuable 

 crop, by birds, is so great, that the farmer of the watery dis- 

 trict is necessitated nightly to despatch boats with [men and] 

 fire-arms to scare them away. As the evening begins to 

 close, one sees clouds of starlings {»St<irnus vulgaris) approach- 



