3944 The Zoologist — April, 1874. 



said to have been killed on the river Yealm : this species is very 

 uncommon in our neighbourhood. I was informed by a fisherman 

 that there were now hundreds of gannets in the channel off Ply- 

 mouth, and that he had also met with some puffins (which he called 

 "popes"); this seems very early for the appearance of the last- 

 named species, but it might be_ owing to the extraordinary mildness 

 of the season. The raackerel-boals are now beginning to bring in 

 quantities of guillemots, and a few razorbills, in every stage of 

 plumage. 



8th. Saw three shags at a birdstuffer's, one of which was in 

 nearly perfect breeding-dress, whilst the other two were only just 

 beginning to change. Large numbers of these birds are now daily 

 seen in the water and on the rocks near the Mewstone, at the 

 mouth of the river Yealm. 1 believe the plumage of the female 

 shag in summer to be finer even that that of the male, and that the 

 same may be said of the cormorant. 



14th. There were three more old male shovelers in the Plymouth 

 Market, killed on one of the rivers or estuaries in this neighbour- 

 hood. 



19th. Walked along the coast beyond Bovisand, and observed 

 several cormorants, which showed the while patch on the thighs 

 peculiar to the breeding-season. 



20th. Remarked a pied wagtail in apparently full summer dress. 

 1 believe that a large number of the birds of this species we see in 

 early spring are migrants. 



23rd. Observed a small party of wood larks, some of which rested 

 on a telegraph-wire; this 1 have often seen them do before. Starlings 

 are already taking possession of the "air-holes" in the high walls 

 of the ramparts surrounding Devonport, in which large numbers 

 breed. Watched twelve herons, one after another, silently crossing 

 from the trees on which they had been resting during high water, 

 in Warleigh Wood, to their fishing-places on the opposite side of 

 the river Tamar, the mud-banks of which were just beginning to 

 appear. This morning I examined the contents of the stomach of 

 a brown owl, in which were the remains of an immense rat, the 

 long and thick tail of which was quite perfect. What a pity it is 

 that so many of these useful birds should be shot and trapped by 

 our gamekeepers. Many kestrels and green woodpeckers have also 

 been killed in this neighbourhood. 



24th. Saw a large flock of Larus ridibundus on the water, many 



