THE ZooLoGisT—FEBRUARY, 1875. 4335 
by Mr. Petherick, one of the birdstuffers of Taunton, to come to his 
shop to name a bird for him. I accordingly went there, and found 
the bird was a Temminck’s stint: it had been shot on the 14th of 
November near North Curry, in the marsh. Though this bird 
appears to occur more or less plentifully every spring or autumn in 
the Eastern Counties, it is by no means a common visitor to this 
county ; indeed I do not remember a Somerset specimen being 
recorded since Colonel Montagu’s, which was shot in September, 
1805, near the mouth of the Brue, near Bridgwater. Although 
somewhat later in the autumn than Temminck’s stint usually occurs, 
it had not quite completed its moult, some of the dark summer 
feathers still remaining on the back; the lighter coloured edges, 
however, are quite worn away, only the dark centres being left. 
Gannet.—On the 17th of December, at Bidgood’s, I saw a gannet, 
which had been killed at Hatch Beauchamp, about five miles from 
Taunton: it was almost in adult plumage—that is to say, had it 
completed its moult it would have been quite so; as it was, a few 
dusky feathers remained, mostly on the flanks. The state of moult 
the bird was in probably led to its capture, as the primaries were 
very irregular, the first on one side not being half as long as the 
second, and on the other side the second was only just making its 
appearance, a gap being left between the first and the third: it 
must, therefore, with this ragged state of wing, have found it hard 
to fight against some of the fierce gales we have had lately. 
CrcIL SMITH. 
Bishop’s Lydeard, near Taunton. 
Bones of Ruminants in Medway Saltings,—I have just obtained a horn 
of the roebuck, and another of some description of Bos, dug up near here 
when digging for cement-clay upon our Medway Saltings. 
Surface soil - - - - - 22 ft. 
Cement-clay - - - - - i aes 
Peat - “ - 7 o % 14 ” 
Cement-clay - - a $ a 4 
Peat and remains of forest bac &e. - Brey 
Total depth - - 94 ,, 
—Walter Prentis; Rainham, December 29, 1874, 
Exportation of Birds to New Zealand.—The ship ‘ Tintern Abbey,’ now 
not far outside the mouth of the Thames, has on board no less than 1180 
