MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 209 



variety of the Parrot fish, (Scartis,) which has a peculiar mouth very like 

 the bill of a parrot^ and the jaws are so strong as to enable them to feed 

 on shell-fish and corals, large numbers of which may be found in their 

 insides. A. Sepia, (Cuttle fish,) was very abundant on the beach. 



February 4th., 1854. In dry situations on the Yarra, near Dight's mill, 

 took specimens of Acheta campestris, in the pupa and imago state. It is 

 known here as the "Rain Crow," which name is also applied, in Virginia, 

 to the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, {Guculus Carolinensis,) from their being more 

 clamorous before rain. On a plot of Lucerne Mr. Christy took a very 

 beautiful Colias? somewhat like C. Hi/ale, (Clouded Yellow;) and a species 

 of Water-flea, (Gyrinite^ numbers of which were performing their beautiful 

 gyrations on the surface of the Yarra. Near the Yarra bend a great number 

 of Crows were congregated, apparently very much annoyed by about twenty 

 Hawks, very like our Kestrel, which were hovering about and bufieting them. 

 They were much on the ground, probably feeding on the Acheta. On the 

 Eucalypti and Casuarina, various species of the parasitic Loranthus were in 

 flower. The surface of the Yarra was covered with Potamogeton crispus; 

 P. nutans; P. ohtusifolius; and Ottelia ovalifolia, (Persoon;) and its margin 

 clothed with Mentha australis; 31. gracilis; Senecio odoratus; etc. 



And here I believe I must end for the present, as I am much engaged 

 in preparing for the second exhibition of our Horticultural Society, on the 

 28th., promising to write again on an early day. 



Melbourne, Port Philip, February 20th., 1854. 



j^iBCBllaiiBnttB JMim, 



Occurrence of Hoopoes near Tlymouth. — On the 27th. of last month, Mr. Bolitho, of Plymouth^ 

 had a specimen of the Hoopoe, {JJpupa £pops.) sent him for preservation; and on the 29th. 

 another, both obtained in this neighbourhood. The person who killed the first saw others at the 

 same time. I examined the stomach of one of these birds, and found it to contain a quantity 

 of rather large short-legged spiders, of a pui-ple brown colour. I might at the same time 

 mention that a few days since, I opened the stomachs of two male Kestrels, (Falco Tinnunculus,) 

 killed in the vicinity of Dartmoor. One contained a large sloworm, {Angiiis Fragilis,) the other 

 a sloworm and a lizard, but in neither were there any remains of mice or beetles. From 

 this it would appear that reptiles form the chief food of this species during the spring and 

 summer months in certain localities. — John Gatcombe, Wyndham Place, Plymouth, May 15th., 

 1854. 



Note on the Cormorant, (Pelicanus carbo.) — Passing by Croxby Lake on Saturday last, I was 

 surprised to see a Cormorant ; one more species to be added to the list I forwarded some months 

 ago, as visiting that locality. The Cormorant is rare in this part of Lincolnshire, but is now 

 and then met with, generally resting, apparently after long journeys, upon elevated spots: the 

 spire of a church is sometimes selected. Many years ago one fixed upon the pinnacles of Louth 

 church; another the tower of West-llasen for its abiding-place. After once or twice disturbing 

 the visitor to Croxby, and watching his flight round the lake, I retired some little distance, 

 and he commenced fishing, and I had the pleasure of seeing him, after a protracted dive, 

 return to the surface with a tolerable-sized eel. The difficulty he had to manage his lively 

 and slippery prey was very amusing ; he frequently dropped it, but there was no escape. Once 

 I expected that he had fairly gone; down went the eel, down went the Cormorant after him. 



