910 The Zoologist — September, 1867. 



me a capful of young quails just taken from the nest: though not 

 counted they could not have been much under twenty in number, and 

 a pretty and interesting lot they were. Why the quail should be such 

 a scarce bird in the South of England and yet so numerous in the 

 Isle of Man I can only account for by supposing that we are here out 

 of the line of flight. 



July. 



Lesser Dlackbacked Gull, Sfc. — Mr. Rogers, of Freshwater, informs 

 me that he has noticed but one pair of the lesser blackbacked gull 

 breeding in the Freshwater Cliffs this season, and I have reason to 

 believe that one pair only is nesting in the Culver Cliffs, having seen 

 but one pair on the 3 1st of May. Mr. Rogers states that the herring 

 gull is breeding at Freshwater in about the usual number, as are also 

 the guillemot, razorbill and puffin : ravens have bred there and reared 

 their young (three in number). There being but two or three pairs of 

 cormorants breeding in the Freshwater Cliffs this season, there is 

 reason to fear that persecution will eventually drive this species away, 

 as it has done the shag. Freshwater is no longer the secluded spot it 

 was ; not only are the hills fortified, but a coach runs daily between 

 here and Freshwater. 



Partridge. — Young birds had left the nest by the first week in July. 

 Though they pair in March, I observed on the 31st of May a couple 

 running about at mid-day, in a ploughed field, apparently feeding. 

 Had incubation commenced, they would not have been found away 

 from the nest ; however, I believe Macgillivray to have been mistaken 

 in saying that M the eggs arc not laid until June," unless his remark 

 refers to the partridge in Scotland ; for, allowing that an egg is laid 

 daily, it would be getting towards the end of the month before all the 

 eggs could be deposited ; therefore they could not be incubated for the 

 young to be abroad by the first week in July. 



Wood and Willow Wren. — Both species are now to be met with, 



having reappeared towards the latter end of the month ; the former in 



considerable numbers. 



Henuy Hadfield. 

 Ventnor, Isle of Wight, August 3, 1867. 



Canute Fecundity. — It may interest some of your readers to know that a yourjg 

 black and tan Gordon setter bitch here whelped 18 whelps, all alive and well. She 

 was herself one of a litter of 18, and she and her mother have produced the extra- 

 ordinary number of 87 whelps in six consecutive litters, the mother 58 in four and the 



