LITTLE BUSTARD. — STERNA AND LARUS. 47 



SiPHONiA fusiformis. — Irregularly fusiform, very much elongated, the 

 summit composed of a cluster of naked tubes. 



This species may at once be distinguished by the form of 

 the crown, and by its great length, which is equal to about 

 ten times its greatest breadth. The stem, near the root, con- 

 tains as usual a single canal, which, at the distance of four 

 inches from the bottom, is divided into four or five ; the num- 

 ber is encreased on approaching the summit, which is pierced 

 by about twelve apertures (fig. 3). These canals are neither 

 so crowded as those of Siphonia clava, nor 

 so large and distant from each other as 

 those of Siph. anguilla. The appearance 

 of the crown is that of a cluster of thick, 

 solid tubes, but this character is lost at a 

 short distance from the extreme point. The 

 annexed sketch, which is drawn of the na- 

 tural size, will give an idea of the general 

 appearance of the summit. The length of 

 the whole specimen is more than fourteen inches.- -Jo/m Ed- 

 ward Lee.— Hull, Sept. 18, 1839. 



Little Bustard Shot in Devonshire. — On Friday, the 15th 

 of November, a specimen of that very rare bird, the little 

 bustard, [Tetrax campestris), was killed at Bigbury, in the 

 south of Devon, which came into my possession the next 

 day ; this is I believe the second occurrence of this bird in 

 that county, and it is rather singular, that in the other instance 

 the bird was bought in Plymouth market in 1804, by my 

 brother, Wm. Prideaux, and presented to the late Col. Mon- 

 tagu, and is now in the British Museum ; it was killed in the 

 north of Devon. — Charles Prideaux. — Hatch Arundel, near 

 Kingshridge, Devon. — Nov. 22nd, 1839. 



Habits ef the different Species of Sterna and Larus. The 

 sandy island of Mareat is quite covered with salt plants, be- 

 tween which thousands of sea-birds had built their nests, in 

 different groups, according to the different species. 1 re- 

 marked five species that had collected there for the purpose 

 of hatching their young : Sterna affinis, St. nigra, St. tenui- 

 rostris, Larus leucophthalmus, and Jmv. Jlavipes. Each 

 species had occupied a division by itself, in which the several 

 nests were hardly a foot distant from each other. Tn each 

 nest of four of the groups there was only one eg^, in a much- 

 advanced stage of incubation ; in the nests of Sterna nigra 

 only were there two eggs. The sailors collected a great num- 

 ber of eggs, every one of which they were obliged to throw 

 away. It was heart-rending to hear the cries of the disturb- 

 ed birds, which were so eager to hatch that those which had 



