100 The Zoologist — February, 1866. 



specimens; all, with one exception, were in perfect winter plumage, — the exceptional 

 one had a few summer feathers remaining on the back, with some black feathers 

 mixed with the white on the lower part of the neck. These eight birds were collected 

 together at the mouth of the harbour. This is not an unusual occurrence after a severe 

 south-west gale, from which we are completely sheltered, and I well recollect the cir- 

 cumstance mentioned in Morris's ' British Birds,' in which upwards of thirty were 

 collected at one time, after a south-west gale of many days' duration, and on examining 

 them with the late Mr. Jackson, of this place, we could not delect one thai was n«it in 

 the pure winter plumage. There is not a winter passes without many specimens of 

 the great northern diver being found here. — Siephen Clogrf ; East Loue, Lishcanl. 



Great Crested Grebe near Birmingham. — On the 15th of November a great crested 

 grebe {Podiceps cristatus) was shot on one of the pools in Sutton Park. The bird is 

 now in the hands of Mr. Franklin, taxidermist, of this town. — T. Jephcutt, jun. ; 

 Balsall Heath, Birmingham, November 21, 1865. 



Nesting of the Little Tern. — Having last summer found reason for suspecting this 

 pretty sea-swallow (said by Mr. Adams to be only a rare visitant to our western shores) 

 of breeding at the northern entrance of the Menai Straits, I was glad to seize an 

 opportunity of visiting the locality early last June, and of veiifying ray conjecture. A 

 number of nests were found, seldom if ever in the accidental hollows in the pebbly sand, 

 as described by Mr. Yarrell, and such as the cumnion tern mostly uses, but j;enerally 

 scooped out, as stated in ' Biidsnesting,' — in this respect precisely resembling neigh- 

 bouring nests of the ringed dotterell. Sccondli/, the complement of the number of 

 eggs, in repeated instances, was found to be four, whilst Messrs. Yarrell, Meyer, 

 Doubleday and Adams, give no more than two — three! The fact serves to confirm my 

 supposition that the birds have long bred here undisturbed, the very boys of the nearest 

 houses disclaiming all knowledge of sea-birds' eggs being procurable in the neighbour- 

 hood. Thirdly, Mr. Yarrell asserts all the eggs of this species to be laid before the end 

 of May : on the contrary, I have simply to state that several nests were found containing 

 perfecily fresh eggs, and one with first egg, neicly laid, so lately as the 4th of June, 

 and in a season, it must be rememliered, of unusually early development! The eggs, 

 as generally described, vary but little in colour or markings ; in both, so closely 

 resembling the surrounding sand and small shingle that to prove successful a very 

 close search indeed must be instituted fur them. The spot in question is a sand-bank 

 nearly covered by shingle and wholly unprotected by rock. It would seem never to be 

 completely submerged, and is a spur or "s|)it" of the extensive " Lavan Sands," 

 abutting upon the main. — //, Ecroyd Smith; Aldbro' House, Eyremont, Birken- 

 head. 



The Great Auk on Lundy Island. — My friend the Rev. H. G. Heaven, of Lundy 

 Island, has given me permission to forward you the following extracts from a letter he 

 wrote me relative to the last appearance of the great auk on that island: — 



" Lundy Island, September 6, 1865. 

 "With regard to your question whether we have ever seen the great auk, I must 

 answer in the negative. There is strong presumptive evidence, however, that the 

 great auk has been seen alive on the island within the last thirty years ; at least 

 I cannot imagine what other bird it was. The facts are as follows, and I raust leave 

 it to more experienced ornithologists to draw the conclusion: — In the year 1838 or 

 1839, as nearly as I can recollect, — not, however, more recently, — one of our men io 



