THE ZooLoGisT—FEBRUARY, 1875. 4327 
and magpie would speedily have attacked and made short work of 
them. 
Common Sandpiper.—9th. Saw two of these birds to-day. This 
seems to be unusually late, for they generally leave us by the end 
of September. 
Missel and Common Thrushes and Blackhbird.—12th. Noticed 
numbers feeding greedily on haw-berries. I have not as yet, strange 
to say, seen a single redwing or fieldfare. The former are usually 
common enough; but the latter, as far as my experience goes, do 
not visit us in any great numbers unless the weather is severe. 
I saw both species abundantly in Hertfordshire on the Ist instant, 
and was told they had arrived a week prior to that. The weather 
to-day has been bright and fine, but with a bitterly cold easterly 
wind and freezing hard in the shade. 
Cormorant.—12th. While standing near the Castle this after- 
noon I observed one of these birds high in the air, flying down the 
river towards the entrance of the harbour, on passing which it flew 
away in the direction of Berry Head. It was such a large, fine- 
looking old bird that I watched it, and noticed, after it had pro- 
ceeded for some little distance, it turned back, and 1 thought it was 
going up the river again, but instead of doing this it kept flying 
round in large circles until it had attained a considerable elevation. 
Sometimes it seemed merely to give a lazy flap or two of its wings, 
and then soar aloft with outstretched motionless pinions. By-and- 
bye I noticed it was joined by another of its own species, and these 
two birds continued to wheel upwards round and round each other 
until they were nearly out of sight, and looked mere specks against 
the clear sky. They must have amused themselves in this manner 
for nearly half an hour, and J was just on the point of walking on 
(for I found it cold standing), when suddenly one of them closed 
its wings and fell at a tremendous pace through the air for some 
distance, performing, apparently, a summersault in its descent, and 
this manceuvre was immediately followed by its companion, and 
repeated several times in succession until both birds were only a 
few feet above the surface of the sea, when they ceased their 
gambols and flew steadily off in the direction of Berry Head. 
Curlew.—14th. Saw two this afternoon feeding in a meadow 
above Dittisham. They are scarce birds in this neighbourhood. 
Gulls.—15th. Quite mild in comparison to what it has been 
for the last few days. Noticed numbers of herring and lesser 
