9848 Birds, Sfc. 



my garden, from both of which the young had evidently flown only a few days pre- 

 viously. The birds were not in good order, but just beginning their summer moult. 

 I so arranged the niatler that at ihe tiu)e 1 .shut these birds I received from Roniuey 

 Marsh fresh-killed specimens of the true reed warbler.shol in the reeds of the fen-ditches, 

 and, on comparing the two birds in the flesh together, I have little hesitation in saying 

 that the inland warbler is not our reed warbler. I will not enter into the chief points of 

 difference at present, as I hope next May to get a specimen or two in fine plumage. — 

 Robert Mitford ; Hampstead. 



The Ruff on the Norlhum Burrows, North Devon.— On the 11th of September 

 I saw a ruff shot on the Northam Burrows. It was a bird of the year. — Murray A. 

 Mathew ; Weslon-sujier-Mare, October 9, 1865. 



Curlew Sandpiper at Kingsbury Reservoir.— On the 2nd of September last, at 

 Kingsbury, my brother and I found a pair of these somewhat rare visitors to the 

 Reservoir : one was killed by my brother without any difficulty ; but the second joined 

 company with a ringed plover, and together they led us up and down the water many 

 times, till at length the sandpiper passed me within range, and was bagged. These 

 birds were in the transitional plnmage, and still retained, in some degree, the russet 

 throat and breast of their summer dress. — W. H. Power ; Queen Square, Blooms- 

 bury. 



Temminck's Stint near Rainham, Kent. — Two specimens of this species of stint 

 were obtained by my brother and myself on the marshes between Rainham and 

 Olterham, on the yth of September last: we were-sitting upon the sea-wall, when, 

 bearing them utter their cry as they swept up the creek, we had just lime to secure one 

 each as they passed. — Id. 



Crane at Stallford. — I have received from Mr. Haddon the following particulars 

 of a crane, which was shot by him on Tuesday, the 17th of October, at Stallford, near 

 the Bristol Channel. It measured 4 feet 11 inches in length from the toes to the tip 

 of the bill, and 6 feet 10 inches from tip to tip of the extended wing: the weight was 

 7j lbs. It is evidently a young bird of the year. — Cedl Smith; Lydeard House, 

 October 21, 1865. 



Sacculina Carcini, Ratbke, on the Devonshire Coast. — I have much pleasure in 

 adding this remarkable and interesting parasite to t^ie Devonshire Fauna. Several 

 specimens of the female only I met with on ibe only vulnerable part of Carcinus 

 Maenas, viz. under the tail, and I only found them on the males. I examined the 

 contents of the ova sac under a one-eighth objective, but could not resolve the contents 

 into anything but oil-globules (incipient eggs?). I find, however, by examining a 

 specimen preserved in spirits, so thai the tissues had become a little hardened, that 

 the eggs have apparently a double coat. I find also amongst the eggs certain sacs 

 containing several eggs in different stages of development. The eggs are perfectly 

 round, and are filled with a pale yellowish semipellucid mass. Sacculina Carcini has 

 been found attached to C. mteuas at Bohuslau, as well as on the coast of Norway: 

 the Kev. A. M. Norman has also dredged it oflf Berwick attached to the pleon of 

 Portunus holsatus (see ' Record of Zoology,' 1864, p. 310.) — Edward Parfill; Devon 

 and Exeter Institution, Exeter, October 27, 1865. 



LONDON: EDWAUD NEWMAK, PUINl Elt, 9, DEVONSHIBE SXKEE X, BISHOPSGATE, N.E. 



