760 The Zoologist— May, 1867. 



So numerous were they in the Channel at the time I am referring to ihat it was no un- 

 common thing for a party of two or three guns to kill thirty or forty in an hour or two. 

 Very few breed at Beachy Head now, the ledges ou which they used to lay their eggs 

 being swept away by the recent "foundering" of the cliffs. — John Button; East- 

 bourne, April, 1867. 



Redtkroaled Diver and Norfolk Plover in Somerset and Devon. — A redthroated 

 diver was picked up dead by a small pond at Bishop's Hall, near Taunton, on 

 Thursday, the 28lh of March. Bishop's Hall is a long way, nearly twenty miles, from 

 the sea, and there is no large piece of water near. I saw the skin of this bird at the 

 Museum at Tauuton : it was just assuming the summer plumage, as there were a few 

 red feathers on the centre of tbe throat, and many gray ones were making their 

 appearance on the sides of the throat and on the cheeks. I also had one of these birds 

 sent me from Exmouth on the 29th, in full summer plumage. Is not this rather early 

 for the bird to have assumed this plumage? The Norfolk plover I received from 

 Exmouth on Saturday, the 23rd of March : it had been killed there the day before. — 

 Cecil Smith ; Lydeard House, March 31, 1867. 



Ichthyology of Norfolk. — Being engaged in collecting materials to form a list of 

 all tbe species inhabiting the rivers and coasts of Norfolk, for publication in the ' Zoolo- 

 gist,' I shall feel particularly obliged to any gentleman for any information or inte- 

 resting facts relating to the same.— 2'. E. Gunn ; 3, West Pollergate, Norwich. 



Occurrence of two Rare Land Shells in Sussex. — The fine weather which we enjoyed 

 last week tempted me from home, and I walked over the grassy slopes of the South 

 Downs and through the beautiful beech-woods at Harting, Sussex, where I found 

 much to delight the eye of a naturalist. I might descant at some length on the birds 

 plants and shells which attracted my attention in the course of my rambles, but I feat 

 that my enthusiasm would cause me to lose sight of the chief object I have in writing, 

 which is to give you a new locality for two of our rarer land shells, Helix obvoluta and 

 Clausilia Rolphii. During a visit to Up Park I had a great treat in looking through 

 a collection of land and fresh-water shells, formed by an excellent naturalist who 

 resides there, Mr. J. Wearer. The collection, which has been made entirely in Sussex, 

 is a very comprehensive one, and I was interested in observing several of the rarer 

 species well represented by county specimens. Amongst these were Helix obvoluta 

 and Clausilia Rolphii, both of which may be considered, if not rare, at least very local. 

 Mr. Weaver informed me that these shells are not uncommon in Up Park, where he 

 has no difficulty in obtaining specimens. Helix obvoluta, I believe, has generally been 

 found in woods upou the ground, amongst moss, or at the roots of trees ; Mr. Weaver 

 tells me that he has collected a great number of his specimens from beech trees, at a 

 considerable height from the ground, and that he was often obliged to detach them 

 with a long switch. Clausilia Rolphii is apparently peculiar to chalky soils, and the 

 locality just mentioned, therefore, is on this account a favourable one.—/. Edmund 

 Harting ; Kingsbury, Middlesex; April 4, 1867. 



