174 The Zoologist — April, 1866. 



day, and was informed by one of the villagers that they hed been seen 

 carrying away the slicks from one nest to another, and that there had 

 been much fighting on the occasion. 



Kittiwake. — ^December 26th. A very handsome bird of this species 

 was shot. Forehead white ; crown, nape, scapulars and upper coverts 

 bluish gray. Tliroat, neck, whole of under parts and tail of the purest 

 white. Part of the five exterior primaries black, but all, excepting the 

 first, tipped with white, that colour gradually increasing, so that at the 

 fifth there is a considerable patch. Before the eye, and both above 

 and beneath, there are some fine black hair-like feathers, resembling 

 eye-lashes, which, being on a white ground, have a peculiarly beautiful 

 effect. Bill of a bright greenish yellow; feet and legs black. No 

 appearance of red about the eye. Though no ducks were seen I was 

 informed by the boatmen that on a previous morning an immense flight 

 was observed between Shanklin and Dunnose. 



Woodpecker. — A neighbour, many years resident in Shanklin, 

 informs me that he had in his collection two woodpeckers (the great 

 spotted he believes), both procured in the flesh, having been shot in a 

 wood near Brading. And I may observe, in passing, that some parts 

 of the island are well wooded ; for instance, the country between the 

 above town and Wooton, and to the north-west of Newport there is the 

 Forest of Parkhurst, and further westward there are woods and some 

 fine old timber. 



[Captain Hadfield would oblige me greatly by acquiring more 

 definite information : when a fact so interesting as the occurrence of a 

 woodpecker in the Isle of Wight is noticed, the name of the person 

 who killed it or them, the date when killed, the locality where killed, 

 the name of the species, and the name and address of the present 

 owner of the specimen, should be given with scrupulous accuracy. — 

 Edward A'ewman]. 



Jantary, 1866. 



Fe/re/ 5fo/er.— January 1st.— Heard of five black and white "divers" 

 being seen in our Bay, endeavouring to ride out the south-easterly 

 gale ; that they were birds of this species I can have no doubt. They 

 were often in the midst of the breakers, but rising occasionally on wing 

 to avoid the heavier waves ; i'ow water-fowl could, I think, have lived 

 in such a sea, and the increasing storm has driven every other water 

 bird from the coast, for in a stroll of some miles along the clifl' and 



