No\'EMBEE 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



267 



Herring Gulls and Guillemot; — I was much surprised 

 to see in the October Number of Knowledge that so ex- 

 perienced an ornithologist as Mr. Cordeaux could give 

 credence to the absurd statement of the cliff climbers of 

 Speeton and Bempton, that the herring guUs carry off the 

 eggs of guillemots " in their feet." Take an ordinary 

 sized guillemot's egg, girthing from six to six and a half 

 inches, and consider how is it possible that the foot of 

 even our largest gull, the greater black-backed (in length 

 about three Inches) could clasp and hold securely an egg 

 of the above-mentioned size, or that the small foot of an 

 ivory gull could hold and carry even a little auk ? I have 

 lived all my life on the seacoast and been amongst gulls 

 at all seasons, yet I never saw a gull of any species attempt 

 to grasp food of any kind with its feet. Even the large 

 gulls when feeding on a carcase never use their feet to 

 hold the food while tearing it, but merely lay hold with 

 their bills and tear it off the carcase. — Robert Warren, 

 Moy View, Ballina. 



[I think Mr. Warren has somewhat misunderstood my 

 note in connection with the herring gulls. I do not any- 

 where say I give credence to the " absurd statement " — I 

 simply state the facts as I was told them, and sent the 

 note to Knowledge in the hope of eliciting the opinions 

 of other ornithologists on a matter of which I had no 

 previous cognizance. Regarding what Dr. Hayes says 

 about the ivory gulls carrying off the wounded auks in 

 their feet. Dr. Hayes was far too acute an observer and 

 naturalist to fall into any error regarding facts which must 

 have been patent to the whole of his expedition. — John 

 Cordeaux.] 



[Although neither denying nor altogether accepting the 

 truth of the statement made by the cliff climbers of Speeton, 

 it seems to me quite possible that the herring gulls could 

 carry off the eggs of guillemots in their beaks without 

 breaking them. I have positive proof of a rook carrying 

 an Aylesbury duck's egg in its beak some distance and 

 then dropping it perfectly intact. If a rook could thus 

 carry an egg of about five and a half inches in circum- 

 ference, could not a herring gull, with a wider gape, carry 

 off an egg of about six inches in circumference ? — H.F.W.] 



Food of Herons. — Mr. Armistead's note on the food of 

 herons recalls an interesting experience which I had this 

 spring. Walking one day last April through a well-known 

 heronry, not far from Scarborough, I noticed lying under- 

 neath the nests a number of the pellets of indigestible 

 matter which these birds cast up. On macerating them 

 in hot water I found that they consisted principally of the 

 fur and bones of water-voles, together with the hard 

 portions of several species of water-beetles, particularly the 

 I'ytiscus tiiarijinalis. I found only two small remains of 

 fish — a single scale in one pellet, and a few bones and 

 scales in another. Yet these birds were nesting within a 

 couple of miles of a well-stocked lake containing dace and 

 a few trout, which are preserved for the especial benefit of 

 the herons. I am bound to say that I saw the remains of 

 several fish (not in pellets) on the ground in the heronry, 

 but the small proportion of this food compared with the 

 remains of voles and beetles struck me very strongly, and 

 I cannot help thinking that the destructiveness of these 

 birds on trout streams has been magnified, and that the 

 wholesale slaughter by the river watchers is unnecessajry. 

 I can understand that on a breeding pond containing small 

 fish they may be very destructive, but that is quite another 

 matter to fishing a stream where the fish have shelter and 

 can take care of themselves. There I am inchned to think 

 the heron does at least as much good as harm. — Wm. J. 

 Clarke, Scarborough. 



Night Heron on the Exe. — A very fine adult male night 

 heron was, I regret to say, shot in the marshes at Countess 

 Weir in June last. In August I saw a bird flying over our 

 marsh (which is about a mile below Countess Weir), very 

 like a small heron, but with a more rapid and hurried 

 flight. Perhaps, it was the survivor of a pair of night 

 herons which might have bred if they had been undisturbed. 

 This is the first known instance of the occurrence of this 

 beautiful heron on the Exe. — W. S. M. D'Urban, Newport 

 House, Exeter. 



Barred 'Warbler in Norfolk. — Correction, — In the Rev. 

 Henry H. Slater's note of the occurrence of this bird in 

 Norfolk this year, reported in the last number of Know- 

 ledge (page 240), the wrong date was unfortunately 

 inserted. The date should have been " August 27th," 

 not " May 27th." 



A Prolific Pair of Blackbikds. — Early in March a pair 

 of blackbirds built in ivy on my garden fence, hatched out 

 three young, fed them until they were almost ready to fly, 

 and then a cat killed them all. They then built again 

 lower down on the same fence, nearer the house, and hatched 

 out four young, all of which were killed by the same cat 

 when a week old. In May they built a third nest, high up 

 in a Piiracantlms, on the front of my house, and success- 

 fully reared four young (one of which, however, got 

 drowned in the flood prevalent when they were weak on 

 the wing). The hen then fresh lined the same nest, and 

 successfully reared five young. The hen blackbird visited 

 her old nest, as though contemplating a fifth family, for 

 about a week after the flight of the fourth brood, but the 

 cock bird did not sing again. I saw him once or twice at 

 the end of my garden in company with his last family, 

 but I do not think any attempt was made towards the 

 production of a fifth brood. I have watched these black- 

 birds very carefully ; they have built in my garden 

 for several years, and I should know the song of the male 

 at once as quite distinct from that of others in the 

 neighbourhood. — A. G. Butler, Beckenham. 



Sed-foofed Falcon in Alerdeennhire (Annals of Scottish Natnrid 

 m stuff!, October, 1897). — Mr. Geo. Sim reports the shooting of a 

 male of this species at Criminmogate on May 7th, 1897. 



The Melodious Warller (Hypolais polyglotta) in Sussex {The Ibis 

 October, 1897, pp. 627 and 628).— Mr. Howard Saunders gives an 

 interesting note of this bird, a specimen of Trliich was shot at Burwash, 

 Sussex, on April 30tli, 1897. The occasional visits of R. polijijlotta 

 to the British Islands have been suspected on good evidence for 

 some time, but this is the first instance of its having been positively 

 identified. 



The Alhatross in the North Atlantic (The Field, Vol. XC, Sep- 

 t'»mbor 25tli, 1897, p. 500). — Mr. T. Southwell gives particiUars of 

 the different occurrences of Diomedia melano2>hrys in the North 

 Atlantic. 



Cas2>ian Tern on the Trent (The Naturalist, October, IS97, p. 308). 

 --Mr. F. B. Whitlock reports the capture, on August 3rd, near 

 Colwick Park, of an adidt Caspian tern. 



Montagu's Harrier in Ireland (Irish Nafuraliit, Vol. TI., No. 10, 

 p. 284). — Mr. Jolm H. Tecsdale reports tlie capture of a young female 

 irnnla''u's harrier in County Kerry. Tliis liird is one of six (two 

 old and four young) which have been seen about the neighbourhood. 

 From tliis evidence Mr. Tcesdale believes the bird to have bred in 

 the disti'ict. Since Montagu's harrier has only been observed two or 

 three times in Ireland, and has never been known to breed tlicre, it 

 would be extremely interesting to have positive evidence on the subject. 



Notes on the Godw'its (Limosa). By E. A. S. Elliot. (The Ibis, 

 October, 1807, pp. 564 to 574.) — This is a very interesting article on 

 the habits, i)lumage, and distribution of the godwits. A great part of 

 the paper deals with the bar-tailed godwit, and it should be read by 

 all interested in these birils. 



All contributions to t/ie column, either in the way of notes 

 or photoi/raphs, should be forwarded to Harky F. Witherby, 

 at 1, Eliot Place, Blackheath, Kent, 



