MISCELLAKEOUS NOTICES. 85 



hazel, lower mandible, yellow, legs dusky; the stomach contained a fifteen-spined stickleback, and 

 was well filled with its own feathers. Several of those Grebes have come to hand from time 

 to time, but this appears the only one where the colour of the iridcs was particularly noted at 

 the time. Last April I had the pleasure of watching a pair in full summer plumage, diving 

 around and close to the rocks, the colour of tlieir necks shewing very bright, as the sun shone 

 iipon it. — Clement Jackson, East Looe, December 20th., 1851. 



Ptiffin, (Fratercula arctica,) in ivinter. — January, 1846. A Puffin was piclced up dead on 

 tlie beaoh, quite fresh and in good feather, apparently a young bird of last summer; beak, 

 pretty fully developed, and of the usual orange and blue; head and back, black; cheeks below 

 the eyes, gray; above and in front, sooty; legs, pale greenish yellow. One was found on the 

 beach, putrid, in March last, probably an early summer migrant. — ^Ideni. 



Predatory habit of tJw Tttr key. —Some few years since, we sat an old Turkey hen on 

 twenty duck eggs, and as I was passing by her nest one day, in the course of incubation, I 

 observed her devouring an egg which was just outside the nest. On examination, it was found 

 that she had been feasting very plentifully upon her charge, as there were but eight eggs 

 left, and four of which she despatched in a few days afterwards. Thinking that hunger might 

 have been the cause of her acting so unnaturally, food was continually placed near her after she 

 had eaten sixteen of the eggs; this prevented the remaining four from molestation, and which 

 were ultimately hatched by her. — Michael Westcott, "Wells, December 5th., 1851. 



A Hen turned Mouse killer. — Last week my attention was attracted towards a common bam 

 fowl, which was reaching up to a hole in a wall, and pecking at it very earnestly. When 

 I was within about ten yards of the Hen, a common Mouse jumped out of the hole, and ran 

 off at fall speed, and away went the Hen after him. The fugitive was soon nm down, and a 

 sharp pinch, inflicted by his two-legged pin-suer, made him squeak for mercy; then darting 

 between the Hen's legs, he ran across the road, and hid himself in a large tuft of grass under 

 the wall. The Hen's sense of smell not being sufficiently acute to direct her in the chase, 

 and not seeing exactly the spot ho entered, she lost him for a time; but never was there a 

 spaniel, pointer, or any other dog, more active to stai't the game of which it might be in 

 pui'suit, than was the Hen to discover the hiding-place of poor mous-e; she ran about close to 

 where he was, picking and scratching the grass with a determination not to be defeated. Having 

 at last espied the little lurker, she pulled him out, and actually held him in her bill, knocking 

 him sevei-al times against the ground, vmtil he was quite dead. She then let him drop, walked 

 round him two or three times, and then as if to be satisfied that he was dead, she inflicted 

 another blow which exposed his intestines, and walked away very leisurely. — Idem. 



Egyptian Goose, (Anscr Egyptiaca.) — On December 22nd., 1851, I pxirchased of a poulterer 

 in the Plymouth market a fine specimen of the Egyptian Goose, which was shot in the 

 neighbourhood of Lauueeston, Cornwall, and sent to Plymouth with some other wild-fowl for 

 sale. There is not the slightest indication in the look of this bird to lead one to suppose that 

 it had ever been kept in confinement. Its bill, legs, and plumage are quite perfect: the 

 stomach contained nothing but sand. — John Gatcombe. 



White Book. — In the month of October last, I frequently saw in the marshes near Tottenham, 

 two Rooks, one of which was entirely white, and the other piebald. They appeared to be on 

 good terms with their black brethren. — S. H. Carter, Bruce Grove House, Tottenham, Nov., 

 1851. 



Early appearance of Fieldfares, (Turdus pilaris.) — Fieldftn-es have made their appearance 

 unusually early tliis season, for I saw a flock near my residence on the 9th. of September last, 

 and on the 11th. of the same month, I again saw about twelve or thirteen. — Idem. 



BuUfiiicli, (Pyri-hula vulgaris.) — I noticed, a few days since, a white male specimen, shot in 

 this neighbourhood, in the possession of a taxidermist of this town. The back was slightly 

 tinged with blue, and the breast with red. — S. Hannaford, Jux., Totnes, May Uth., 1851, 



Pugnacity of the Missel Thrttsh, (Turdus viscivorus.) — I was witness some few weeks since 

 to an encounter between a pair of these birds, which have a nest in an orchard adjoining the 

 Priory at Totnes, and a Jackdaw that had pitched on the tree to procure materials for his 



