The Zoologist — Novkmbeu, 1866. 475 



water mark that one night during a gale of wind the whole of their 

 nearly-finished nest was swept away. 



Snowy Owl.— On the Ulh of April, two days after a gale from 

 N.E., having picked np a feather which appeared to have been 

 dropjjed from the breast of a snowy owl, I sent a man to explore the 

 hills, and early on the morning of the ]3lh lie came to me with a 

 specimen of the bird itself, still living and inclined to show fight, but 

 so heavily wounded that I was compelled to kill it immediately. It 

 afterwards proved to be a nude, measuring twenty-three inches in 

 length, extremely fat, and with the stomach fully distended with the 

 skins and bones of mice. Although much injured by the shot, this 

 specimen is a very interesting one, inasmuch as it fully confirms some 

 remarks I made upon the plumage of this species some three years 

 ago (Zool. 8637), and which may be here quoted for the sake of con- 

 venience. " The younger the bird the more do the dark marks, espe- 

 cially upon the under surface of the body, partake of a barred appear- 

 ance, the sharper are the edges and tips of the mandibles, and the 

 broader and thinner, although no less keen, is the projecting inner 

 edge of the middle claw. All of the claws are comparatively slender, 

 and in colour resemble the bill, being of a bluish or grayish tinge, 

 while in the adult those parts are black." Although the present 

 example answers to the above description in every particular, yet 

 there might be some doubt as to its age were it not, first, for the 

 proofs afforded by dissection, and, secondly, for the fact that near the 

 lower part of the back of the neck there still remain a number of 

 feathers which perfectly resemble those of the first plumage, being of 

 a grayish brown colour either distinctly barred or obscurely mottled 

 with dull white. 



Black Guillemot.— On the 26th of April I saw a few black guille- 

 mots in gray plumage, and obtained two specimens which were in the 

 black plumage of summer. Another, a male, and, judging from the 

 peculiar colour of the feet, a last year's bird, was perfectly black, with 

 the exception of the well-known patch upon each wing and a number 

 of small white marks round the base of the bill. 



Turnstone.— k few small flocks of turnstones are still remaining. On 

 the 21st of April I shot a fine male, which, having nearly completed 

 its spring moult, was so conspicuous, by reason of his almost entirely 

 white head and the fine chestnut colour of the upper parts of the body, 

 that 1 was able to select him from the remainder of the flock, which, 

 as far as could be observed, presented much the same appearance as in 

 winter. 



