OCCASIONAL NOTES. 513 
between Powerscourt and Sugarloaf, I noticed several Blackeaps in full 
song. So that it would appear that this bird is by no means very rare in 
the neighbourhood of Dublin, where my friend Mr. Barrington believes it 
breeds annually.—H. Cuicuesrer Harr (7, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin). 
SPOONBILL 1N CorNwALt.—From what I have lately read it appears 
that an unusual number of Spoonbills have made their appearance on 
various parts of the British coast during the present autumn, and I have 
to record the capture of one near the St. Germains river, Cornwall, early in 
November. It was examined in the flesh by me on the 9th instant, and 
was a bird of the year, with the plumage of a dull white, without any 
erest, or buff band on the breast, and the bill perfectly smooth, without 
ridge or wrinkle, apparently of a lighter hue when first killed, but now 
changed to an uniform pinkish lead-colour. The poor bird must have 
suffered dreadfully, as the bone of one wing was much shattered, and the 
wing itself badly twisted. St. Germains river seems to be a favourite 
haunt for this species when it makes its appearance in Cornwall. On a 
former occasion I examined three which had been killed there at one time, 
and since then several single individuals have been procured there at 
various intervals. I much wished to have examined the trachea of the 
above-mentioned specimen before it was detached from the body, as the 
birdstuffer promised I should do; but arriving at his house I found that 
the body had been taken out, the trachea hanging in a straight line without 
any sign of convolution, but which perhaps might have been different when 
in its proper place. I had nearly forgotten to mention that the shafts of 
the primaries were black and the tips of a brownish hue. I have enclosed 
two feathers of the Spoonbill, which you might perhaps like to see, as they 
are curiously barred, or rather eaten through. By holding them up to the 
light you will see what I mean. They were taken from between the 
shoulders and from the wing-coverts near the tertials—quite similar on 
both sides of the bird and in the same places. I at first thought they 
were regularly barred with dusky lines. I think I have noticed some- 
thing of the kind in other young birds, but not to such a great extent; 
they cover a large space on the plumage.—Joun Garcomse (55, Durnford 
Street, Stonehouse, Devon). 
[The feathers present a singular defect caused by starvation, known to 
falconers as “ hunger-traces.” It appears as a line of imperfection across 
the web of each feather, chiefly in those of the wings; while on the shaft 
the mark may be not only seen but felt as a slightly projecting ridge. The 
injury from this cause is sometimes such as to occasion the feathers to 
break off at the ‘‘ hunger-traces,” and the mark seen on the web is doubtless 
owing to the breaking off of all the fine fibres of the web in the line of the 
trace.— ED. | 
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