OCCASIONAL NOTES. 363 
In the centre was a hollow about the size of a boy’s cap. Other materials 
used were cow-hair, moss, grass, &e. The egg is now in my possession, 
and differs very slightly from other eggs of Montagu’s Harrier in my 
collection.—WattER Ratne (Leeds). 
GANNETS BREEDING IN ConrINEMENT.—In the month of September, 
1874, I took four young Gannets on the Bass Rock; two more the 
following year, and a pair were sent to me in 1876. No bird is more 
successfully reared if the necessary food be provided. They feed best on 
Herrings, Mackarel, and Sprats, and it is seldom I have observed the 
remains of any other fish at their breeding quarters. The greatest 
difficulty is to find a suitable ground for their enclosure that will not 
cause corns on their feet. Grass grown on chalk appears to answer every 
purpose, and my birds are now perfectly healthy. Only two deaths have 
occurred in my small colony. One was found dead during the very hot 
weather in July, 1877, and the following winter one dived under the ice 
and was drowned. In 1879 one pair of the oldest birds built a nest, and a 
single egg was laid on June 8th. Owing, however, to the nest being 
dragged away by the younger birds, this egg was broken after having been 
sat upon for a week. This season the same pair built early in May, and 
after the nest had been left for a fortnight an egg was laid on May 19th. 
The male and female sat by turns, never leaving the egg but once, and 
then only for an hour or two. On June 380th the shell was cracked, and 
on July 1st the young bird was hatched. It is never left by the old 
ones, and is now apparently able to take food, being taken into the mouth 
of the old bird, who stretches her throat to the utmost and allows the young 
one to crawl up and help herself from her gullet. It is now nearly a 
fortnight old, so small that it might be put in a hen’s egg; only a little 
white down on the head and part of back, the rest nasty black skin; beak 
white; eye dark.—H. T. Boory (Brighton). 
[A coloured portrait of a young Gannet just hatched will be found in 
‘The Ibis’ for 1866, p. 23, in illustration of a very interesting article on 
this bird by Dr. R. O. Cunningham.— Eb. | 
Ganner at Luanperis.—While waiting for a boat on the bank of the 
Llanberis lake on June 24th, I noticed a large sea-bird, which I thought at 
first was a Black-backed Gull. It descended into the water with a tremendous 
splash, which made me observe it more carefully, and on rowing towards it 
I found it to be a Gannet in immature plumage, with white head and breast 
and dark back. It was not at all shy, and gave me a good opportunity of 
. watching it with a glass. What brought it inland J am unable to imagine.— 
Juxian Tuck (Llanberis). 
Micration oF THE REeDBREAST.—In a recent number of ‘ Notes and 
Queries’ (Jan. 10th, 1880, p. 35) the following extract is given from * A New 
