MISCELLANKOUS NOTICES. 109 



Eolis Couchii, Cocks. — Under surface of stone, extreme low water mark, 

 spring tide, Gwyllyn Vase, (the only specimen procured.) 



Eolis exigua, Aid. and Hanc. — On Laomedea genicidata, Penryn Creek, 

 Rowe's oyster beds: not uncommon; Helford, August, 1849. Every blade of 

 Zostera Marina, examined, covered with the adult animal and ova. 



Singular lining to a SjuirrcVs nest. — In the woods in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld, there 

 are great numbers of S(iuirrels. Whilst staying at that place last summer, I fell in with a 

 curious character — a fellow who professed to be ostler at the Duke of Athol Hotel — and who, 

 from being a good fisherman, and possibly somewhat of a poacher, had evidently become in his 

 way a bit of a naturalist. It appeared he was very fond of rearing Squirrels; and he told me 

 that last year, on climbing up to a nest, which might have been some twenty or thirty feet 

 from the ground, he AVas much astonished at finding in the bottom of it the body of a full- 

 grown Rabbit, which evidently had not been dead very long; and, from the manner in which 

 it was placed in the nest, he had no doubt that it had been taken up the tree by the Squirrels 

 to serve for a warm lining for the young when brought forth. Mr. Knox, in his "Game Birds 

 and "Wild Fowls," mentions having been told by a keeper that he actually saw a Squirrel 

 carrying a half-grown Pheasant (alive) up a tree; "this proved, however, to have been an invention 

 of the keeper's brain;" but the story is not, I think, at all improbable, supposing the SquiiTel 

 about to appropriate the Pheasant in the same way as the Rabbit was used. — Martin Curtlek, 

 Bevere, Worcestershire, March 1st., 1852. 



Bo the Hawk tribe drink. — I have a tame Golden Eagle and a tame Kestrel: I had never 

 seen cither of them drinking, although constantly supplied with fresh water, and about two 

 months ago I took the water from both birds, and they have never had any since. They are 

 both in very good health. In summer time the Eagle bathes himself in a large tub, floundering 

 about in the water until all Ms feathers become so saturated that he is not for some time able 

 to fly to his perch. I had a Peregrine Falcon which was equally fond of bathing, but I never 

 saw him drink any water. — Idem. 



Occurrence of the Cuckoo. — The "Ayr Advertiser" states that a Cuckoo was seen flitting about 

 the plantations at Seafield on Wednesday last, the earliest appearance of this harbinger of 

 summer in this neighbourhood.— J. Flint, Glasgow, March 22nd., 1852. 



We have no doubt of the correctness of the statement forwarded to us by Mr. Flint, as in 

 a letter received the same day from our esteemed correspondent, J. P. Eraser, Esq., he mentions 

 that he heard the Cuckoo at Blantyre, about seven miles above Glasgow, on the 12th. of 

 March ; and a friend of Mr. Eraser's, to whom he mentioned the fact, stated that he had heard 

 it in the same place on the 10th. The weather had been very fine and mild, but not much 

 sunshine, till the following week, when the weather was like the end of April. — B. R. M. 



Occurrence of the Landrail, (Crex pratensis,) in February. — When out with a coursing party 

 on the 10th. of the month, a Landrail took wing from a stubble-field, but was captured after 

 a short chase. It was in full feather and good condition. Has the bii-d wintered here, or 

 been tempted to migrate from the mildness of the season? — C. Nelson, M. D., Lytham. 

 Lancashire, February 16th., 1852. 



A White Magpie, (Pica caudata.) — Early m March,' 1847, I was called to a patient about 

 five miles from Looe, and my attention was directed by the gentleman I visited, to what he 

 called a White Magpie, in a wild state. On examining her, (for she proves to be a female,) 

 as well as from the well-known shyness of Magpies she would allow me, I found that her 

 head and neck, and the whole of her body, with the exception of the ujiper and under tail 

 coverts, were of that pure and delicate white so remarkable in the Magpie; her wings and 

 tail were natural. On visiting the same gentleman this day, December 12th., 1851, I was 

 much pleased at seeing my old friend, the Magpie, but in a somewhat diftbreut dress to what 

 she wore when first I saw her: she now appears completely white, with the exception of the 



