Birds. 9449 



almost entirely depend upon the supply of food to be obtained, and 



that the large flocks of fieldfares and redwings have been attracted to 



the neighbourhood by the plentiful supply of haws which redden all 



the hedge-rows, whilst the almost total absence of wild geese may 



perhaps be occasioned by the dry summer and autumn, seasons felt 



more severely on the eastern side of the county, and the geese have 



thus been driven to seek some favoiuite food in the moister climate 



and greener and more plentiful vegetation of the virestern counties. 



Although we have had no wild geese, two small flocks of wild swans 



have been §een in the Huraber, one flock containing six birds, all of 



which were shot ; the other, containing seven birds, is still at large. 



John Cordeaux. 

 Ulceby, Lincolnshire, December 17, 1864. 



Ornithological Notes from West Sussex. 

 By W. Jeffery, jun., Esq. 



Great Crested Grebe. — On the I2th of November, 1864, I had a 

 great crested grebe from Sidlesham, which had been killed in Pagham 

 Harbour. This bird proved on dissection to be a male, and, having 

 little or no crest, I suppose is a bird of the year, as, according to 

 Yarrell, they do not lose the crest after having once attained it. In 

 the stomach I found, beside some small fish, a hard cram of feathers, 

 fish-bones, &c., nearly filling the stomach. Yarrell suggests that the 

 grebes "reproduce at will" the indigestible portions of food swallowed. 

 Another specimen was killed near Selsey, about the 27lh of December, 

 and is now in my collection. It is a female, and has a tolerably per- 

 fect crest. The stomach contained, as usual, a quantity of feathers, 

 but not in so compact a mass as I have previously observed in this 

 species; there were also six or seven small fishes and a shrimp, 

 surrounding this mass, but not mixed up with it. 



Great Northern Diver. — An adult female of this species was brought 

 me on the 6lh of December, having been killed that day in the Bosham 

 arm of Chichester Harbour. This specimen weighed seven pounds, 

 and measured from the base of the bill to the tip of the tail two feet 

 four inches ; bill along the ridge three inches. In the first stomach 

 were two flat fish, each about four inches long, and in the second 

 stomach a quantity of fishes' bones and a large shrimp. Another bird 

 of the same species was seen in company with this one, and was after- 

 wards shot. I examined it the next day, and found it to be about 

 VOL. XXIII. K 



