343 The Zoologist — August, 1866. 



bird of this species having been seen at Bonchurch : I have since 

 ascertained that the new-comer is a male, too, having heard its 

 song. 



June, 1866. 



Lesser Blackhacked Gull, Sfc. — In the May notes I remarked that 

 no gull but the herring gull breeds at the Culver Cliff, and other 

 writers have said the same ; but I find, by a recent visit to the spot, one 

 pair of [lesser] blackbacked gulls still nesting there, and I moreover 

 observe that there are at least double the number of herring gulls that 

 I and others had supposed ; but I might again have come away with a 

 wrong impression had I not chanced to shoot a meadow pipit near the 

 edge of the cliff. No sooner had I fired than herring gulls rose in all 

 directions, open-mouthed and excited, screeching at me in most dis- 

 cordant notes, which may be likened to laughter, but when heard so 

 near, and from so many throats at once, has anything but an agreeable 

 sound. I was soon surrounded by about forty of them, some, in darting 

 to and fro, ventining within thirty yards of me, but the two lesser 

 blackbacked gulls, though occasionally mingling with the rest, gene- 

 rally keeping more aloof. No kittiwakes were seen. This lofty and 

 inaccessible cliff is a favourite haunt of the meadow pipit during the 

 breeding season : the specimen procured is a female, and both quills 

 and tail-feathers are so worn and abraded that there is no making out 

 which are the longest. On dissection it was found, as anticipated from 

 the ragged state of the plumage, to be a female, the ovary filled with 

 a cluster of eggs, mostly very minute, the largest not much exceeding 

 a pin's head in size. In the gizzard was found nothing but beetles : 

 thus we have in the pipit another benefactor. 



[These are the beetles from that most injurious grub, the wire- 

 worm : they were of three species, Agriotes Spulator, A. obscurus and 

 A. lineatus. — E. Newman.] 



Martin. — Though the martin arrived early in May, it did not com- 

 mence building till the latter end of the month, the weather being un- 

 seasonably cold : thermometer 50° on the •26lh, at 9 a. m. On inspecting 

 the nests, on the 4th of June, I found three in different stages of 

 advancement; one an old nest undergoing repair; the second, in its 

 half-finished state, looking like a gorget reversed; the third but recently 

 commenced. 9th. There are now six nests on the same house, which 

 I can only account for by ascribing to a social habit, there being a 

 loftier and apparently more suitable building close to it ; besides, the 



