The Zoologist— March, 1873. * 3441 



close, seeing which he went home for his gun, but when he returned 

 he found them sitting on the top branches of another tree : he shot 

 one, when they flew a short distance and alighted ; they allowed 

 him to approach as before, when he shot a second ; and so on until 

 he shot four: he said they sat and looked at him while loading. 

 Surely a bird cannot be called shy that sits within shot and allows 

 a man to go through the platoon of a muzzle-loading gun, time after 

 time. The watcher's character of them, if rough, was most truthful; 

 he said they were " stupid devils," The other three flew into the 

 gardens, and two of them were shot by the gardener iu a similar 

 manner. All these six birds came into my possession, I venture 

 to state that the majority of the specimens obtained in Britain have- 

 been shot sitting: if any readers of the 'Zoologist' can prove the 

 contrary, T hope they will. 



Great Gray Shrike. — Nov. 29. A neighbouring gamekeeper 

 brought me a fine specimen of the great gray shrike : on dissection 

 I found the stomach to contain the stomach and intestines of a 

 small bird, probably a finch, as it contained various seeds and 

 pebbles. This is the fourth specimen I have obtained during six 

 years in this neighbourhood, and all four have allowed themselves 

 to be openly approached and shot sitting. 



Glaucous Gulls. — Dec. 13. I obtained three glaucous gulls, all 

 immature birds, differing in size, the largest being twenty-seven 

 inches in length, the smallest twenty-five inches and a quarter. 

 There is scarcely any diff'erence in their plumage, except in the 

 wing-feathers : in the smallest bird the outer primary is uniform 

 dull white, with a small angular. mark of pale brown near the tip; 

 the inner webs are all dull white, but the outer webs become more 

 and more pale yellowish brown, and the angular mark increases in 

 size towards the body. In the largest the primaries are rather 

 darker; the outer webs are mottled with pale brown and a double 

 row of angular markings near the tip. The under surface of the 

 wing of all the birds is uniform grayish white, the shafts pure white. 

 There were several adult birds, but I was not fortunate enough to 

 get near them. I got a fine adult specimen of the great black- 

 backed gull. There are more of the larger species of gulls on the 

 coast now than I have ever seen. 



Gannet. — Dec, 18. A solan goose found dead on the beach. 

 It may be worth recording that some years ago the gardener here 

 found a young bird of this species alive in the park after a storm ; 



