102 The Zoologist — February, 1866. 



near this place, and it very soon died after beinjr picked up. A common storm petrel 

 was also found under similar circumstances. The furklailed petrel Las occurred very 

 sparinjily here, and I have not seen a specimen for many years. Two other specimens 

 of Thalassidri^ia Leachii were picked up, one on the banks of the Tamar, near Lann- 

 ceston, and the other in the heart of Bodmin Moors, fioin fifteen to twenty miles 

 inland. — Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance. 



Forklailed Petrel at Plymouth. — A specimen of the forktailed petrel was captured 

 alive, in a court behind a house in Plymouth, on the 3rd of December: ii died in tiie 

 course of the day. Another specimen was taken on the Tamar. — J. Brouking-Rowe ; 

 9, Princess S({nare, Plymouth. 



Nest within Nest. — One of the most interesting instances of abnormal nidification 

 which I met with during last summer was the case of a blue titmouse {Parus cceruleus), 

 which had formed its nest and laid eight eggs at the bottom of a blackbird's nest, into 

 which the titmouse had inserted its own nest, as a little cup fits into a larger one. 

 This was taken on the 5th of June, 1865, at Piompton, Sussex, and makes a very 

 pretty object in its glass box. I have also known the same bird to build on the open 

 bough of a spruce fir, like a chaflrnch. lu both instiinces, no doubt, the aberrant 

 character of these structures arose from the absence of lioles and decayed trees in the 

 vicinity. I also saw a swallow's nest {Ilirundn rustirii) on a liedgcr's glove at the end 

 of a beam. — George Dawson Rowley ; 5, Peel Terrace, Brighton, January 18, 1866. 



Turtle in Cornwall. — On the 3rd of January, as some children were playing on the 

 beach at Hemmock, one mile to the westward of the Dodman Head, they saw a turtle 

 endeavouring to make its way up a small stream of water which (lows across the beach 

 into the sea : having fetched a giiff from their cottage, they hooked it out of the stream 

 and secured it. I saw it on the following day, and its weight was 23 lbs. It was 

 taken to Megavissey, and bought by a fi!<herman there to send to the London market. 

 If, therefore, its shell is wanted by any collector, the purchaser in town might probably 

 be traced. I believe the turtle is numbered amongst our British reptiles; but whether 

 this specimen had crossed the Atlantic, being driven here by the fierce south and 

 south-westerly winds we have had this autumn, or whether it was swept from the deck 

 of some homeward-bound ship, must be mere matter of conjecture. — William Willi- 

 mott; The Rectory, St. Michael Caerhays, St. Austell, in the ^ Field' Newspaper. 



On the Occurrence of the Spinous Shark in Mouufs Bay, Cornwall. 

 By Thomas Cornish, Esq. 



A specimen of the spinous shark was caplured about a mile off 

 shore at the back of Mousehole Island, in Mount's Bay, on the night 

 of Friday, the 1 5th of December, 1865. It was taken by some men 

 who were fishing for conger, and on conger bait, so that it took its 

 bait on the ground. The bottom where it was caught was shingly, 



