2810 The Zoologist — October, 1871. 



about three miles from Barnstaple. — Marcus S. C. Richards; Sept. 31, 

 1871. 



Arocet in Cornwall. — A few days since a very fine avocet was killed on 

 the banks of the St. Germans River, Cornwall. I saw the skin just after it 

 had been taken off, obtained the body, examined the contents of the 

 stomach, and preserved the breast-bone. The body was in very good 

 condition, and the stomach contained gravel and the remains of some very 

 small almost transparent sand-coloured fish (I think of the goby species), 

 some of which were nearly whole ; but I could not find any sign of shrimps 

 or worms. The smell of the body was exceedingly rank and fishy. — 

 J. Gatcomhe ; 8, Lower Durtiford Street, Stonehouse, Devon, September 24, 

 1871. 



Weight of Oraylags. — When the December number of the ' Zoologist ' 

 reached me, I was encamped on splendid ground for shooting ducks, 

 geese, Ac, and as Mr. Gurney, junior, alluded to the immense size of some 

 of these geese seen by him at Leadenhall Market, 1 shot eight, which 

 averaged eight and a half pounds, unpicked. The vast numbers of graylags 

 that visit India during the winter months are in prime condition in 

 February and March. I should be glad to know if the geese referred to by 

 Mr. Gurney were heavier than our Indian examples, which certainly feed 

 on the fat of the land. — A. Anderson ; August 28, 1871. 



Goosander in Oxfordshire. — I was shown, by Skinner, an adult specimen 

 of the goosander, wbich he had shot on the weir-pool (Skinner's Weir), near 

 Eynsham, on the 5th of January last. I observed a swift flying about 

 Eynsham Bridge on the morning of the 11th of September. — A. H. Smee; 

 September 15, 1871. 



Number of Young produced by the Mute Swan. — Referring to Captain 

 Hadfield's notice in the last number of the ' Zoologist' (S. S. 2771) of a pair 

 of swans producing a brood of nine cygnets in the Isle of Wight, I may 

 mention that I know of a pair of swans in Norfolk whicb have also hatched 

 and brought up nine young ones during the present year ; and of another 

 pair, on the same stream, wbich some years since had a brood of eleven. — 

 J. H. Gurney; September 8, 1871. 



Black Tern at Elstrec Reservoir. — Although by no means its first 

 occurrence in the locality, it may be w^orth wbile to record that on the 21st 

 of August I sbot an immature specimen of the black tern {Sterna fissipes) 

 at the above sheet of water. I was informed that there were two or three 

 more about, but I did not myself see them. — C. Bygrave Wharton ; Bushey, 

 Herts, September, 1871. 



Cormorant inland in Somersetshire. — The occurrence of the cormorant 

 as far inland as Cothelestoii Pond, which is situated just under the Quantock 

 Hills, and about ten miles from the nearest part of the Bristol Channel, 

 seems worthy of a short note. One of these birds was killed at the above- 



