NOTES. 201 



of a young Snipe has reminded me of the curious pad on the 

 leg of the nestling Wryneck figured so long since by Nitzch. 

 The subject is certainly worth the attention of embryologists.* 

 Surely the white spot on the bill can be nothing but the 

 " egg-tooth " so noticeable in the young chicken. I have 

 frequently observed it in both Terns and Gulls, and remember 

 that its connection with the rhampotheca is not very intimate ; 

 it falls off at the slightest touch, either in fife or death, and 

 leaves no trace of its former presence. 



Fredk. J. Stubbs. 



DISEASES IN YOUNG BLACK-HEADED GULLS 

 AND, COMMON TERNS.| 

 Seeing that my name is mentioned in Mr. Robinson's 

 interesting notes on the breeding of the Common and Sandwich 

 Terns (antea, p. 169) and lest it should be taken for granted 

 that I am in entire accordance with i egard to the statement 

 that " starvation and the gape-worm are the main causes of 

 death amongst the young Black-headed Gulls," I should 

 much prefer at present that it be recorded that certain small 

 red worms were found in the windpipes of certain of the 

 dead Gulls, and that I drew Mr. Robinson's attention to them, 

 saying they appeared exactly similar to the gape- worm seen 

 in the windpipes of domestic poultry suffering from " gapes." 

 I should not like to go so far as to say definitely, that these 

 red worms found in the throats of some of the defunct Black- 

 headed Gulls were the same worm as is found in the throats 

 of domestic fowls, and which is known at present as Syngamus 

 trachealis. 



The disease which Mr. Robinson mentions as destroying 

 the feet of some of the young Common Terns, is extremely 

 interesting and is, I think, worthy of further consideration. 

 The feet appear to be infested with open sores and in some 

 cases, to be gradually eaten away. The explanation which 

 seems most feasible at the moment is, that the young Terns, 



* The conical, horny papillae which are found on the " heels " of 

 nestling Woodpeckers, Wrynecks, Barbets, and nearly related forms 

 are purely superficial, epidermal structures, and bear no relation to 

 the swollen proximal ends of the tarso-metatarsi in the young of 

 Terns and Plovers, notably the Norfolk Plover or "Thick-knee," for 

 this latter swelling is confined to the bony skeleton.— W. P. P. 



f Mr. Robinson sends us the following correction to his note on 

 this subject : — "In line 10 from the bottom of page 169 {supra), where 

 it is stated that ' several blue and white eggs were seen,' I should have 

 added, ' with dark markings ' and that those with a white ground were 

 much rarer than those with a blue one, only three of the former being 

 seen by myself." 



