208 : THE ZOOLOGIST. 
By March 7th Chaffinches were in full song around Plymouth, 
and many Black-headed Gulls had already assumed the dark 
head. On that date I remarked some diving ducks on the Laira, 
but they were so far off that I could not quite make sure of the 
species. There were also a large number of Curlews, Dunlins, 
and Ringed Plovers about the mud-banks. On the 8th a Lesser 
Spotted Woodpecker was killed by a gamekeeper in Sheviock 
Wood, not far- from St. Germains, the stomach of which con- 
tained small white grubs or maggots, similar to those found in 
oak-galls. Lesser Black-backed Gulls were plentiful in pairs, 
but Larus marinus was unusually scarce for the time of year. 
Larus canus, too, began to assemble, as it generally does just 
before the nesting season; but I do not know a single locality 
anywhere on the coasts of Devon or Cornwall within many miles. 
of Plymouth where either this gull or the Lesser Black-backed 
Gull breeds, Larus argentatus being the only species which nests 
in our district. Notwithstanding severe easterly winds all the 
Black-headed Gulls left us for their nesting quarters, and will 
not return until the end of August or beginning of September. 
On March 29th I was much pleased to see a Glaucous Gull, 
apparently an adult bird, flying in the Sound, the only one of the 
species I had remarked all the winter. 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
Sroats AssuMING THe Ermine Dress.—During the past severe winter 
an unusual number of Stoats in this district appear to have assumed the 
ermine dress, either wholly or in part. I find that the three principal bird- 
stuffers in Norwich have received during last winter six specimens in which 
the ermine dress was entirely assumed, and twenty-one in which the 
change was only partial, though in several of the latter it was very nearly 
complete.—J. H. Gurney-(Northrepps, Norwich). 
Sroats 1v Ermine Dress.—Since my last note (p. 122), three more 
almost perfectly white Stoats, Mustela erminea, have been sent to our 
animal preserver, making six within three months. One of these specimens 
was entirely white, with the exception of an extremely narrow line of brown 
round the eyes—indeed hardly wider than the eyelid itself. — Joun 
GatcoomBE (Durnford Street, Stonehouse), 
