The Zoologist— December, 1871. 2871 



Spoonbill near Yarmouth — On calling at the shop of Mr. Gunn, of 

 St. Giles, Norwich, on the 17th of October, I saw on the counter a spoon- 

 bill, a young bird of the year, which was bought on the 14th in Yarmouth 

 Market. As it had been killed in that neighbourhood, 1 immediately 

 secured it for my collection. Mr. Stevenson records forty-eight specimens 

 as obtained m Norfolk alone (' Birds of Norfolk,' ii. p. 184). The stomach 

 of the one in question contained good-sized shrimps.— J. H. Gurney,jun.; 

 Northrepps, near Norwich. 



Spoonbill near Aldeburgh — On the 12th of October, in walking towards 

 Orford over the Lantern Marshes, I saw a spoonbill, which was in company 

 with four herons, but though T tried for three hours to get a shot, it finally 

 decamped to the other side of the river with its four wary friends.— If. R. 

 Leach. 



Temniinck's Stint at Aldeburgh.— On the 19th of September my brother 

 shot a Temminck s stint near the engine-house at Aldeburgh.— 7^. 



Note on the Indian Adjutant.— A friend of mine allows me to forward, 

 for insertion in the ' Zoologist,' the following note, just received from a 

 correspondent at Calcutta, on the Indian adjutant :— 



Extract from a letter, dated Calcutta, September 4, 1871. 

 " The number of adjutants is a noticeable feature of Calcutta at this time 

 of the year (September). It is a species of stork. A specimen, a very 

 miserable one I expect, may be seen at the Zoological Gardens. A young 

 male in his second year is a striking, but not a very handsome bird : standing 

 erect, with his head up, he measures more than five feet, and looks an 

 awkward customer to have to deal with. But though not a timid bird he 

 will not allow a man to approach very close, walking away with long strides 

 in a most dignified manner. Owing to his great size he cannot rise in 

 flight without obtaining an impetus, so he runs along the ground at great 

 speed, flapping his wings the while, and after hovering twenty or thirty 

 yards in this manner, launches himself into the air with a mighty sprint 

 and sails away, his huge wings creaking like a windmill. His head is 

 thinly sprinkled with short thin bristles of a reddish colour ; over the 

 junction of the neck with the body is a tuft of fine scarlet fluff, while under- 

 neath depends a long bag, the use of which is open to discussion : at times 

 this is a couple of feet long, at others almost invisible, for the bird expands 

 and contracts it at pleasure. * * * * His breast is white, and his 

 wings of a dark bluish gray ; legs very powerful and capable of being folded 

 up, though in flight they stretch out behind the bird. In the way of food 

 nothing comes amiss. I have seen an adjutant gulp down a shoe of sub- 

 stantial native make, and a gentleman of my acquaintance saw one swallow 

 a live crow which had been annoying him : he said the din raised by aU the 

 crows in the neighbourhood, on being informed of the tragical fate of their 



