3168 Tur ZooLocist—Aveust, 1872. 
which had a pure white breast, which looked very conspicuous 
among the rest; but I have before remarked such birds, especially 
in summer. There were a great many swifts and martins flying 
above the cliffs, on the precipitous faces of which I expect they 
breed, as they do at Seaton and Beer Head between Sidmouth and 
Lyme Regis, further to the eastward. I have not yet seen any 
young gulls on the wing, but in August no doubt we shall have 
plenty in our harbours and estuaries. Whilst on the subject of 
herring gulls, I may here mention that some years ago a friend of 
mine, when trying with some others to procure gulls’ eggs at 
Wembury, near Plymouth, at length, with great difficulty, managed 
to get a nest containing two, but on bearing them away a small 
melancholy voice seemed to haunt and follow him, though he could 
not conceive from whence it came, when at length, to his great 
surprise, he found one of the eggs cracked and the bill of a little 
bird protruding. On getting to the boat he immediately released the 
chick from the shell, wrapped it carefully up, and putting it inside 
his waistcoat, close to his “ buzzom,” brought it home, and actually 
succeeded in rearing it to a fine full-grown bird, afterwards sending it 
to a friend, 1 think, in Manchester. ‘This is indeed a fact, as I had 
often heard of the bird before it was sent away from Plymouth, and 
fully intended going to see it. Having heard instances of tame 
gulls confined in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, for many 
years, being in the habit of flying away and returning again after 
some months, I will relate a similar fact concerning a herring gull 
at Ivybridge, near Plymouth. Some years since a lady observed a 
gull on a kind of island in an ornamental pond on the lawn before 
the house, and, thinking that the poor bird looked miserable and 
hungry, kindly threw some meat to it, which was instantly devoured, 
and from that time to the present the gull remains warmly attached 
to the place, leaving it sometimes for a few weeks together for the 
sea-coast, which is only a few miles distant, but always returning 
again, looking to be fed; and, strange to say, the lady told a friend 
of mine that it never stayed away longer in the breeding-season 
than at any other time. My friend, who saw the bird a few weeks 
since, said that it was a fine herring gull, in full summer plumage. 
Blackheaded Bunting, Ring Ouzel, §c.—June 16th. Visited the 
“ Cheesewring” on the Cornish Moors. Observed several ring 
ouzels among the rocks, and some blackheaded buntings breeding 
in the marshes, where I also met with a great many of the greasy 
