The Zoologist — June, 1874. 4031 



Golden Plover. — April 15. Last flock seen in the marshes. 



Knot and Godtvit. — April 15. On their vernal migration; first 

 flocks seen on the foreshore of the river. 



Whimbrel. — April 15. First spring appearance on their passage 

 northward ; numerous towards the end of the month. 



Chiffchaff fFarS/er.— April 18. First heard. 



Chimney Swallow. — April 20. Three seen, first appearance ; 

 wind S.W. 



Curlew. — April 20. Numerous on the foreshores of the Humber 

 since the end of March. With a powerful telescope I watched 

 from the embankment this morning a party of fifteen or twenty 

 foraging over the ooze. They were perpetually boring into the 

 semi-fluid mud, inserting their long scythe-shaped bills to various 

 depths, sometimes sufficiently to daub the feathers at the base of 

 the bill. They very rarely made a bad shot; and one bird, which 

 more particularly attracted my notice, in ten successive probes 

 extracted each time and swallowed a small annelid about two 

 inches long. 



Tufted Duck. — A young male tufted duck diving and feeding in 

 the entrance to our creek ; close to him on the water was a fine old 

 mallard and his wife. 



Fieldfare. — April 22. Some small flocks in plantations and 

 hedgerows near the coast. 



Yelloiv Wagtail. — April 24. First seen. 



Cuckoo. — April 25. First heard; there was a general arrival 

 throughout the district on this day. 



Common Whitethroat. — April 28. First seen and heard, and 



in considerable numbers. , /-, 



John Cordeaux. 



Great Cotes, Ulceby, Lincolnshire. 

 May 5, 1874. 



A Vegetarian Cat. — I have a cat in my house which devours with avidity 

 all sorts of vegetables. Brocoli, early cabbage, sea-kale aud asparagus are 

 all in favour with the cat; and as to the latter, my servant informed me oji 

 Saturday, after I saw one of the white ends eateu with a keen appetite, that 

 at least a dozen shared the same fate down stairs ; nothing appeared to be 

 better relished by this castrato cat than the stumps of brocoli, which have 

 now yielded to asparagus ; but I never before had reason to attribute in the 

 feline tribe any tendency to indulge in vegetables. I am aware that when 

 cats are very hungry they will eat bread. — Edward Hearle Rodd; Penzance, 

 April 27, 1874. 



