2180 Thr Zoologist — June, 1870. 



I may remark, in conclusion, that the very paucity of species 

 enumerated, and there are only one hundred and twenty, is in itself 

 an evidence of the conscientious manner in which the list has been 

 prepared : nothing could have been easier, and at the same time 

 nothing could have been more useless, than to have added fifty more 

 species without any positive evidence of their occurrence. 



Edward Newman. 



Arrival of Migrants.— 'Since I last wrote I have noted the appearance of the 

 following summer biids in the neighbourhood of Plymouth: — April 15th, cuckoo; 

 16th, tree lark; 17th, puffin ; 20lh, whitethrout and blackcap ; 21st, yellow wagtail; 

 23rd, sand martin ; 25lh, sandpiper (common) ; 26th, swift; 28ih, house martin. — 

 J. Gatcombe ; Sloneliouse, Devon, April 30, 18~0. 



Arrival of Migrants in the Isle of Wight. — April 3rd, wood wren (or willow wren) 

 seen on the upper branches of one of the lofty elms at Bonchurch ; dth, whealear 

 first observed in this neighbourhood; 6th, swallow seen; 17th, cuckoo tirst heard ; 

 23id, nightingale heard at Luccombe. The swallow and martin were last seen here 

 in November. — Henry Hadfield ; Ventnor, Isle of If'ighl, May 11, 1870. 



Note on Montagu's Harrier. — Tiiis harrier may be regarded as a species quite as 

 plentiful as the common or hen harrier of late years in the Land's End district. We 

 get them in Cornwall in all stages of plumage, more frequently in the immature than 

 in the adult state, with the under parts having an uniform fawn-colour. An adult 

 male and female were shot on the property of Mr. George Williams, near the Lizard, 

 this week, and with them there was a second female, a variety, with an uniform sooty 

 black plumage throughout, the second of the kind I have noticed: the tone of this 

 colour is so intense that the bars on the tail are only just perceptible: both the females 

 were far advanced in the development of their eggs. The adult female, as also another 

 I had some time since from Scilly, has the breast yellowish white, with rusty red 

 linear oblong blotches, the general colour of the upper parts wood-brown, but on the 

 wing-coverls when closed there is a broken patch of yellowish white. The dark bird 

 was caught in a trap, first baited with a rabbit or something of the sort : this attracted 

 her, but she continued to hover about without pouncing: the keeper thought that a 

 viper would be a more successful lure, and having killed one placed it on the trap: 

 the bird on seeing it immediately pounced on the reptile and was captured. I mention 

 this to show that in the predatory habits of our Falconidae, and what are deemed 

 " vermin," results beneficial to man may be traced, as well as the contrary. Ought we 

 not to pause before we try to exterminate every creature that we deem unexcep- 

 tionably n)iscliievous ? — Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, May 4, 1870. 



Barn Owl laying Eleven Eggs. — A pair of barn owls (Strlx flammea) have for eight 

 or ten years past reared their young in a building of mine here. Tliey usually lay 

 from six to eight eggs, in batches of two each : those first laid are sat upon at once, and 

 whilst incubation goes on other eggs continue to be laid at intervals. The first young 

 ones are hatched long before those in the eggs last deposited, and when all are hatched 

 the family consists of various sizes, from the baby owl upwards. There is nothing novel 



