7794 Birds. 



Destruction of Small Birds, ^c— When I stated (Zool. 7707) that the nightingale 

 was becoming rare, or to use my precise words, " fiist disappearinar," as a matter of 

 course T was referring only to this county (Cambridge). I am delighted to find by 

 Col. Newman's communication (Zool. 7740) that this bird is gaining ground in locali- 

 ties where it was previously unknown. I hope to see similar records from other parts 

 of the country. His paper recalls to my mind the sad and ruthless destruction of 

 other tenants of the land and sea : I refer to the merciless shooting of various species 

 of gulls, terns, phalaropes, &c., by sportsmen. Thousands in the couree of every year 

 are winged, broken -legged, or retire to some hidden nook to pine out, with hoirible 

 pain, their dying moments. — S. P. Saville ; Dover House, Cambridge, October 14. 



Occurrence of the Gray Pkalarope (Phalaropus platyrhynchus) near Southampton. — 

 Mr. J. Harrington kindly brought for my inspection a fine specimen of the gray 

 phalarope, which he obtained from a man who had shot it at the mouth of the river 

 Humber, near Southampton, on the 24th of September last. As is usually the case 

 with this species, it was comparatively tame, allowing of a very near approach. Upon 

 dissection I found its craw to contain a quantity of partly decomposed remains of a 

 species of Hydrometridse, probably Velia rivulorum, but they were in such a half- 

 digested state that it was almost impossible to determine them. It had nearly com- 

 pleted its autumnal moult. Sex male. — Id. 



Occurrence of Richardso7i's Skua (Lestris Richardsoni) in Cambridgeshire. — The 

 other day a man brought me a fine-marked immature Richardson's skua, which he 

 informed me had been taken in an exhausted state by a labourer at work in a field in 

 Cottenham Fen, Cambridgeshire, on the previous afternoon (Sept. 16). It is in that 

 state of plumage so admirably delineated in Yarrell's ' British Birds ;' if possible, this 

 example presents more diversity of spots and markings than the figure in that work. — Id. 

 Nesting of the Redtailed Tropic Bird : a Visit to Round Island* — Round Island 

 lies about twenty-five or thirty miles north-east of Mauritius, and is about a mile and 

 a half long by a mile wide. The land rises at once from the sea to the height of 

 about a thousand feet, and is consequently very steep. Here the redtailed tropic bird 

 (Phaeton rubricauda, Bodd.) breeds in very large numbers. They are the tamest birds 

 I ever saw, and do not know what fear is. They never attempt to leave their single 

 egg or nestling at one's approach, but merely stick out their feathers and scream, 

 pecking at one's legs with their beaks. It is the fashion on the island for visitors to 

 remove the old bird from its egg by a slight shove, and then, placing the foot gently 

 on its head, to draw out the long tail-feathers. It resents this insult by screaming and 

 snapping, but never tries to escape by flying or shuffling along the ground ; in fact, 

 like all birds which have their legs placed so far behind, they cannot rise oflF a flat sur- 

 face, but require a drop of a few feet to give them an impetus. One that had an 

 unusually tight tail I lifted up and held in the air by that appendage, and it flapped 

 in my hand until the feathers gave way, when it flew oflF, but having left a young one 

 behind, returned almost to my feet in two minutes or so, as if nothing had happened. 

 They do not appear at all particular in the choice of a place to deposit their single 

 egg. They make no nest ; but the shelter of an overhanging rock, or the protection of 

 the arched roots of the Vacoa (a species of Pandanus), seems preferred. On one occa- 

 sion I found an old lady asleep on her egg, and she was extremely indignant at being 



* Reprinted from the 'Ibis' for April, 1861, and kindly communicated by the 

 author. 



