The Zoologist — April, 1873. 3493 



strepera), apparently both young males, on the 30th January, from Leadenhall 

 Market ; the latter birds were from a Lincolnshire decoy. — H. Durnford ; 

 1, Stanley Road, Waterloo, Liverpool, March 9, 1873. 



Gad^f'all in Ireland. — Seeing the extreme rareness of the gadwall in 

 Ireland mentioned in Mr. Harting's most useful ' Hand-List of British 

 Birds,' I beg to record the appearance of a young male that was shot on 

 Lough Erne, Co. Fermanagh, by my brother (H. V. Brooke), in the month 

 of February, 1866, and is now in our collection. — A. B. Brooke; Colebrooke, 

 Ireland. 



Note on the Early Assaniption of Breeding Plnmage in the Bridled and 

 Foolish Gniiieniots and Great Northern Direr. — Through the kindness of 

 Mr. Shopland, birdstutfer, Torquay, I had the opportunity of examining the 

 following specimens, which were obtained in Torbay on the undermentioned 

 dates in December, 1872 : — 



December 21st. A bridled guillemot in full breeding dress. 



„ 26th. An adult female great northern diver, which showed a 

 considerable advance towards attaining the breeding dress on the wings, 

 back and rump, and slightly so on the lower part of the throat. Two other 

 specimens of this diver shot the same day were in full winter dress, and 

 showed no signs of change. 



„ 28th. Two foolish guillemots, one in full breeding dress and 

 the other about half-way advanced in the process of its assumption. 



In all the above cases the breeding plumage appeared to me to be without 

 doubt newly assumed, and not the remains of the breeding dress of the 

 spring of 1872. Possibly the mild weather which characterized the month 

 of December last conduced to the early assumption of breeding dress in the 

 instances here recorded. — J. H. Gurneij ; Marldon, Totnes. 



Glaneous Gull in Nottinghamshire. — One of these fine birds was shot on 

 the Trent, at Beeston, by Mr. Watson's keeper : it was a young bird in good 

 plumage, measuring fifty-eight inches from tip to tip and twenty-eight 

 inches in length. This is the first occurrence of this rare gull in Notting- 

 hamshire. — J. Whitaker, jun. 



Galls off Valparaiso. — "The little gray-headed gulls are extremely 

 numerous in this harbour, and extremely fearless. They swim about in 

 large flocks all round the ship, and it is great fun watching them when a 

 tit-bit of some kind or another floats astern. The}' dart on it like a swarm 

 of bees, and squabble and fight and shriek most vigorously. Their cries, 

 however, often attract the attention of a villainous thief, who on swift 

 pinions comes gliding like a small fiend round the side of the ship, and is 

 suddenly in their midst, and the poor little gulls fly away at once and leave 

 this dark -coloured creature master of the situation and of the grub. Should 

 a gull endeavour to fly off with a morsel he is pursued and swooped at until 

 he gives it up. This bully is a skua of some sort, and very prettily marked 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. VIII. X 



