Birds — Reptiles. 9697 



second, a size smaller, with the same kind of plumage ; and the third, our present 

 friend, who does not boast of quite so elegant an appendage. There may also be 

 some more kinds, but ihe ornithologist is often mistaken in fancying he has found a 

 new species, when it is only the same bird with a slight difference in its plumage. 

 This bird seems to have a very voracious appetite, as I have seen it catch and swallow 

 thirty small frogs in about as many seconds. The natives say the bird often gets 

 choked by essaying to swallow a frog too large for his gullet. Its way of moving 

 about on land is very graceful, being a walk with a movement of its neck backwards 

 and forwards. It is very peaceful, and allows the common pond heron to fish in 

 company with it, without any misunderstanding as to the rights of fishing. Crows 

 very often take a fancy to bully and teaze him, but he manages to hold his own pretty 

 well with his long sharp bill. lis plumage and shape are loo well known to need 

 description. — T. P. Norgale ; Sealkote, January, 1865. 



Ornithological Notes from Manchester. — The following are the only birds of mark 

 which have occurred, to my knowledge, in or near Manchester during the last few 

 weeks : — 



Cormorant. April 19th. A fine male specimen. Weight, .5 fbs. 6 oz. ; length, 

 2 feet 8^ inches ; without any indications of spring plumage. The bird is sufficiently 

 uncommon with us to render its appearance noteworthy. 



Razorbill. April 25tb. Four specimens procured. Weights from 1 ft 7i oz. to 

 1 ft 10 oz. All in breeding slate. The fishes in their stomachs were so macerated 

 that the species could not be determined with certainty. 



Hoopoe. "A very rare bird in this county was killed at Woodhouse, near Ashton- 

 under-Lyne, on Saturday last, by Mr. Benjamin Ashworth." — Manchester Papers, 

 May 13, 1865. The above is reported to me as a fine young male in excellent con- 

 dition, and with a splendid crest. It is about five years since the last was killed some- 

 what further north. 



Crane. A good specimen was killed in May (exact date not ascertained) in the 

 neighbourhood of Slreiford. 



Gadwall. A pair of these interesting ducks was killed about the same time and 

 place. — Charles W. Devis ; Queen's Park, Manchester, June 19, 1865. 



Correction of an Error. — There is an unfortunate mistake in the heading of my 

 short note al Zool. 9629. It ought of course to have been, " Note on the Redthroated 

 Diver."— C. R. Bree ; July 5, 1865. 



Toads and Cyclas cornea. — In April last I happened to be dredging for shells in a 

 pond abounding in both these animals. While examining the result of one of the 

 draughts, my attention was attracted and my curiosity excited by seeing specimens of 

 the Cyclas moving away. On examination I found that this motion was due to their 

 being attached to the hind toes of the toads, to which they clung with the greatest 

 tenacity. Some of the toads had as many as three shells on each of the hind feet, 

 while the instances in which the feet were entirely free from these encumbrances were 

 very rare. I met with no instance in which the shells were attached to the fore feet. 

 In trying to account for this phenomenon we must remember that the life of the toad 

 is divided into three distinct epochs, two long and one short. In winter he hybernates, 

 VOL. XXIII. 2 S 



