The Zoologist— Makch, 1869. 1603 



Parasitical Worms in the Stomach nf a Redbreasled Merganser.— -1 purchased an 

 immature male of this species on the 7th of December last, and in dissecting it I 

 found in the entrance to its stomach some worms thirty in number, and apparently of 

 the same species as those I have previously mentioned in the 'Zoologist' as having^ 

 been taken from the cormorant. I have them in spirits. — T. E. Gunn. 



Great Crested Grebe at Hempstead, in Norfolk. — A great crested grebe was shot at 

 Hempstead, in Norfolk, on the 8th of November, and another (which I saw in the flesh) 

 on the 28th at Grantham, in this county. — /. H. Gurney,jun. 



Great Auks for Sale. — Prof. Newton informs me that Frank, the dealer, at Am- 

 sterdam (Vijzelsiraat, B. B. 619) has a great auk, fur which he is only asking £125. 

 Herr Wilbelm Schliiter, No. 17, Halle a S., Prussia, has another for sale. I learn 

 from my father that a skiu from Coventry is likely to be sold in London shortly ; and 

 I know of a fourth example in private hands to be disposed of — an average specimen, 

 in full summer plumage. It must be some time since so many have been in the 

 market. — Id. 



Little Gulls in Sussex. — In the February number of the ' Zoologist' I mentioned 

 that several of these birds had been taken near Brighton. I now find nine specimens 

 have been obtained in this county: one at Hastings, two at Eastbourne and six at or 

 near Brighton. At Eastbourne seven were seen and one was obtained : they dis- 

 appeared for a few days and then only four were seeu together: one of these was shot, 

 after which the remaining three took their departure; all the specimens obtained were 

 young birds. Query, were they all the same flock ? — T. W. Wonfor. 



Voracity of the Common Gull. — On the 27ih of January, in dissecting a specimen 

 of the common gull, I found a young water vole, almost entire (about half the tail 

 only being gone) in its stomach, the head being swallowed foremost. It measured five 

 inches in length. — T. E. Gunn. 



Food of the Fulmar. — As corroborating a note of mine on the food of the fulmar 

 (Zool. S. S. 1483), I may mention that Dr. Saxby has also found the jaws of cuttle- 

 fish in the stomach of this species. — /. H, Gurney,jun. 



Early Birds' Nests. — During the last week in January a gentleman, near Maid- 

 stone, found two nesis, one a blackbird's, the other a thrush's — one with young, the 

 other with eggs. A gentleman also brought into the market a pea-stalk with blossoms 

 and a few just in pod. — David John French. 



The Crow Blackbird a Robber. — Three years ago this spring there came into our 

 village a flock of a dozen or more of the common crow blackbird (which are plenty in 

 the country above here), for the purpose of building their nests in the tall Lombardy 

 poplars in our streets, and they have been with us each season since, leaving whenever 

 the young can fly. Until this season ihey have made their nests only in the poplars, 

 selecting places near the trunk, where the clusters of nearly upright limbs secure them 

 from ordinary observation. This spring they have appeared in greater numbers : two 

 pairs have built their nests inside the spire of a church, passing through the openings 

 of an ornamented window high up above the tops of our tallest trees. A bell is in ilie 

 lower of the steeple below, and is rung at customary times, and a colony of doves is in 

 the section near the bell. The writer has just discovered that the blackbirds have 

 taken possession of a martin-house in his garden : they are busily engaged carrying 

 in materials for nesis, and the martins are flying helplessly about. Also, in the top of 

 the pyramidal irellis covered wilh vines, forming tht; lower half of the support of the 



