The Zoologist— April, 1874. 3943 



ducks, and a few sheldrakes swimming off the entrance to the Grain- 

 thorpe Haven, and farther out, in the direction of the Haile Sand- 

 looking not unlike patches of floating wrack— hundreds of black 

 scoters. 



Golden Plover.— February 1. Spring note of golden plover. 



Pintail— February yo. I got to-day a very fine specimen of this 

 elegant and graceful duck. It was an old male in full breeding 

 plumage, shot on this coast near Cleethorpes. The gizzard, which 

 is very powerful and muscular, contained only the seeds of one of 

 the Cruciferae— I believe of the common scurvy grass {Cochlearia 

 officinalis). 



Coal Tit.— February 21. Spring note heard. 



Misseltoe Tlirush.— February 21. Have returned in pairs to their 

 nesting-haunts in the garden. 



Ringed Plover.— February 23. Spring note first heard on flats. 



Wigeon.— February 24. The wigeon have paired, males and 

 females swimming together, but keeping at the same time in large 

 flocks. The male is now in full breeding plumage. I found the 

 gizzard of an old male skinned this evening crammed with fine 

 white sand, full of little black specks like coal-dust. Under the 

 microscope, these black spots resolved themselves into the seeds, 

 apparently, of some species of Carex. The sand had evidently been 

 swallowed in scooping up the seeds. 



Pinkfooted Goose.— Several small flocks have recently visited the 

 Humber. I have seen altogether about eight geese that have been 

 killed during the winter within this district, and in every case found 

 that they belonged to this species. 



John Coedeaux. 



Great Cotes, Ulceby, Lincolnshire. 

 March 3, 1874. 



Ornithological Notes from DevonsMre, Cornwall, Sfc. 

 By John Gatcombe, Esq. 



(Continued from S. S. 3912). 



February, 1874. 



7th. To-day I examined a common guillemot, which had already 

 assumed the perfect breeding-plumage; there were also five fine 

 shovelers, three old males and two females, in the Plymouth Market, 



