258 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the first notice I have seen appeared in your magazine, I thought it might be 
of sufficient importance to warrant me in again calling the attention of your 
readers to the strange fact, if fact it be, of this bird so casting its feathers in 
the winter. Has the like been observed of any other bird? How is it 
accounted for? Is it only when hybernating with us that it happens? 
Perhaps some of your readers may shed light on the subject, by informing 
us of instances of which they may have heard, or, better still, which may 
have come under their own observation. Hitherto the accounts, unfor- 
tunately, appear to have been all at second-hand.—Pattip M. C. Kurmopg, 
Ramsey, Isle of Man. 
(Nothing of the kind has ever fallen under our observation, nor have 
we ever investigated such a case, none having been reported to us. Under 
these circumstances we can scarcely venture to offer any opinion. We 
may remind our readers, however, that young Cuckoos are sometimes 
hatched very late in the summer,—later than many other birds,—and 
scrambling away from the nest of their foster-parents (which continue to 
feed them until they can fly), might well be found in some wood stack, or 
other place of shelter, in a half-fledged state. We remember some years ago, 
while on a visit to Sir John Crewe, at Calke Abbey, to have seen a young 
Cuckoo in this condition at no great distance from the house.—ED.] 
Woopeock Carryine its Youne.—On the 13th of this month two 
ladies, inmates of this house, put up a Woodcock in a wood here, which 
rose within a yard of their feet, carrying a young bird between its legs 
pressed close to its body. It was so near that the feet of the little one 
hanging down were plainly seen. ‘The ladies, on being shown immediately 
afterwards the plate in ‘ The Zoologist ’ for November, 1879, observed that 
it differed from the view presented to them, in showing the old bird as 
grasping the young one in its claws, and in the non-appearance of the feet 
of the young bird. I may observe that Woodcocks have for many years 
bred here yearly, and in increasing numbers.—CiErmont (Ravensdale Park, 
Newry). 
Common Scorer ty CamBribGesaire.—On April 19th we were Rook- 
hawking in Cambridgeshire, near Whittlesford, and had some good flights, 
although the wind was rather too high. Just as we were leaving off, the 
farmer over whose land we had been riding came up to tell us that a curious 
bird had been captured the previous day on his farm, that he still had it 
alive, and that nobody could say what it was, except that it was some kind 
of duck. At my request it was sent for, and shortly arrived in a wicker 
coop, when I found it to be a female of the Common Scoter. It had 
been picked up in an exhausted state in one of the ditches on the farm, 
apparently driven inland (at least forty miles from the sea) by the gale 
——- 
