9794 Birds. 



the year have the breast and belly white, strongly tinged with huS-yeWovf.— Edward 

 Hearle Rodd ; Penzance. 



Surf Scoter at Scilly. — A bird of this species, in a very beautiful state of plumage, 

 was captured, a few days since, by a boy at Scilly, in a disabled state, and it has been 

 sent over to-day, in the flesh, for preservation by Mr. Vingoe, who brought it, very 

 civilly, for my inspection immediately on its arrival. I had an opportunity, therefore, 

 of examining it carefully before it was skinned, and before the brilliant hues of its 

 curiously constructed bill had apparently in the least faded. The body was much 

 emaciated, and how ihe poor bird got down to Scilly is a mystery : from the intense 

 black of its plumage, its strongly developed tubercular enlargements on each side of 

 the posterior part of the upper mandibles, the clearly definite division of white between 

 these and the brilliant Seville-orange coloured anterior portion of the upper mandible, 

 ending in a pearl-gray nail, I should think that it is a very adult bird; the legs are 

 bright red, with the interdigital membranes black. — Id.; September 25, 1865. 



Birds at Glenarm.— On the 19lh of July a nest of the merlin was found by the 

 keeper here, containing two young birds, and two eggs varying much in colour and 

 size; the nest was found amongst the heath, on high ground well stocked with grouse: 

 the young birds were tethered in, so that the old birds mipht be trapped at a convenient 

 time. The parent birds fed ihem principally with larks and meadow pipits during 

 that time, which was about a week, the feathers being principally plucked before they 

 were fed. The old hen was trapped and taken without receiving any harm ; the male 

 could have been taken, but time would not permit. I placed them in confinement : 

 the old bird is exceedingly tame ; she took her food from my hand the first day she 

 was captured. Unfortunately one of the young birds got drowned in a tub of water, 

 where it had gone to take a bath : I observe the young are very fond of bathing when 

 provided with water in a shallow vessel. A pair of hen harriers may be seen daily 

 coursing over the same ground in company with gulls and curlews, which breed on the 

 same ground. On the 4ih of June 1 saw four young falcons {Falco peregrinus) taken 

 from a nest from the cliffs near Garron Tower, the seat of the late Marchioness of 

 Londonderry; they were nearly full-fiathered. Several pairs of the chough build 

 annually near the same spot. — T. Brunton ; Glenarm Castle, August 23, 1865. 



A List of Birds observed in the Parish of Bishop's Lydeard. 

 By Cecil Smith Esq. 



The parish of Bishop's Lydeard, of the birds of which the following 

 is a list, is situated in the county of Somerset, at the western ex- 

 tremity of the vale of Taunton Dean, and about eight miles east from 

 the nearest part of the Bristol Channel, at the foot of the Quantoch 

 Hills, a part of the parish, indeed, running up the southern slope to 

 the top, and even a short way over the top, of these hills. There are 

 two large ponds, of several acres each. Sandhill and Cotheleston, and 

 other smaller ones ; there are also various other old pits, out of which 

 marl had at one time been dug, but which are now full of water, 



