NOTES FROM DEVON AND CORNWALL. 249 
oceasion, in the mill-pool, fourteen Little Grebes in close com- 
pany—so close, indeed, that they might have literally been covered 
with a sheet. I watched them for some time through a glass, but 
did not see one of them dive. A short time since a Cormorant 
passed over my head and settled in the mill-pool, the water at the 
time, I should think, not two feet in depth at the deepest part. 
It immediately began to feed, and I will venture to say that 
within ten minutes it had captured and swallowed no less than 
three flatfish (one of considerable size) and' two green crabs, all 
of which must have been alive in the stomach at the same time. 
As soon as it had completed its meal it went off again to sea.” 
Mr. Clogg also informed me that the Herons are again breed- 
ing in Trenant Wood at Looe, and that he had during the 
previous month seen three pairs nesting there. On the 17th of 
March, which he considers rather a late date, he saw a large flight 
of Lapwings, consisting of some hundreds. These birds seem to 
have been very plentiful last winter, especially in Ireland, where 
Mr. Robert Warren speaks of them, in the last number of ‘ The 
Zoologist,’ as ‘‘even more so than in the great Lapwing year 
oe 1877." 
On March 2nd a Puffin was brought to one of our birdstuffers, 
still in winter plumage, with dark bill and cheeks, but whether 
this was a spring arrival or a bird which had remained with 
us during the winter I am unable to say. Its stomach was 
empty. By the 7th Larus ridibundus had assumed its dark head, 
and on the 11th Wheatears had made their appearance in this 
neighbourhood. I observed the Chiffchaff on the 17th, and 
also the Ring Ouzel. The Channel at this date was full of 
Razorbills, Guillemots, and Gannets, and a fine Pomatorhine 
Skua was obtained, the latest I heard of last season. It was 
in moult, and would soon have attained its full breeding-dress. 
A short time previously a male Red-breasted Merganser was 
sent up from Looe, and I found its stomach crammed with 
atherines or sand-smelt (Atherina presbyter), and blennmies, some 
of which were nearly four inches long. Strange to say, this was 
the first adult Red-breasted Merganser I had ever seen killed in 
Deyon or Cornwall, although the young are frequently met 
with during severe weather, and even in comparatively mild 
seasons. 
On March 29th a flock of about thirty or forty Siskins were 
2K 
