2144 The Zoologist — May, 1870. 



17, Smew, adult male, shot on the river. 



20. Two Sclavdiiian grebes, female, shot by a bargeman. 



21. Common buzzard, female, sliol near Couklington. 



March 8. A Sclavonian grebe, adult male, shot by myself: the stomach of this bird 

 was crammed with a mass of feathers, fish-bones, &c., much resembling the casting of 

 an owl. Although this grebe appears to hare occurred almost generally over England, 

 I have not heard of a single specimen of the eared grebe having been procured. If 

 the birds inhabit the same countries, how is this? 



20. Two male garganey teals shot on the river. 



27. A female blackbird sent me: it had a white patch of feathers on the back and 

 neck, and a few on various parts. Female varieties are not nearly so common as those 

 of the male. 



31. A male and female garganey teal shot. 



April I. 1 picked up a fine bean goose on our common to-day: it had been 

 wounded the evening before. Saw a woodcock this day. 



2. A male garganey teal shot on the river. 



3. A ruflf shot on the river-side: it had moulted some daik feathers on the back, 

 and had a large while collar on the neck, but the feathers were only short. Stone 

 plovers have arrived on their breeding-grounds. 



5. Two green woodpeckers shot near Holme. 



8. Found a longeared owl sitting on an addled egg: it h^rd evidently been sat on 

 a long lime. 



16. A pair of shovellers, male and female, shot on the river. 



1(>. A redthroated diver, shot on the Humber near Spurn, had not completed its 

 red throat. — Frederick Bot/es ; Beverley, April 20, 1870. 



Rare Birds at Barnsinple. — The following birds have been obtained at Barnstaple 

 since my last communication : — .\notlier redfiecked grebe, shot on the Taw towards 

 the end of February; a pair of garganeys, male and female, shot on the Taw, close 

 to Barnstaple Bridge, about the 20ih of March ; and a pair of shovellers, shot on the 

 Taw, about the same date. A fine great gray shrike was seen close lo the town 

 towards the end of last mouth. — M. A. Matliew ; Barnstaple, April 8, 1870. 



Greater Forked-beard at the Land's End. — A specimen of the greater forked-beard, 

 or hake's dame, was taken yesterday in a mullet-sean at the Land's End. There is 

 notiiing remarkai)le about the fi>h, which was about eighteen inches long. The last 

 (indeed the only other) specimen I ever saw was taken in Mount's Bay in 1864. — 

 Thomas Corniah ; Penzance, April Q, 1870. 



Large Salmon in the Tame. — Yesterday a salmon two feet nine inches long, and 

 weighing eight pounds, was taken in the eel trap, at the Castle Mill, on the River 

 Tame, just by the spot where it is jiiined by the Anker. Uiiforiunateiy it had been 

 eaten by the captor some two hours before I heard of it, and I could not therefore see 

 it in the flesh, but I understood ibe mill-owner to say that it had on its lower lip the 

 horn with which these fish root up tiie gravel before spawning. It is now many years 

 since a salmon was taken so high up the river as this. — Egbert Name I ; Tamworlh, 

 April 6, 1870. 



