4784 THe ZooLoGIstT—FEBRUARY, 1876. 
poll. It seems strange that some varieties should be so regularly 
marked. A few days since I saw a sparrow which had a pure white 
feather on each side of the tail and another in either wing, giving 
it a very pretty appearance when flying. 
28th. Wind still N.E. and bitterly cold. Another northern diver, 
some sheldrakes and immature goldeneyes killed, and large flocks 
of wigeon seen off the Mewstone. Black redstarts appear to suffer 
much from the cold, are very tame, and may be seen hopping and 
puffed up on the grass above the cliffs, instead of on the rocks 
below. The severe weather has also been disastrous to the green 
woodpeckers, many of our birdstuffers having received as many as 
seven or eight in a week for preservation. 
DECEMBER, 1875. 
2nd. Wind N.E. and very cold. There was an Iceland gull in 
the harbour this morning. I also noticed a fine old male black 
redstart in a quarry at Stonehouse. 
8rd. A male black redstart at Bovisand, near Plymouth, which 
showed a white patch on the wings, but very little black on the 
breast. There were also numbers of gulls, curlews, an oystercatcher, 
and several cormorants on the rocks, but no divers on the coast. 
Woodcocks, snipes, lapwings, wigeon and teal are very plentiful in 
our markets. 
7th. Wind N.E., with a slight fall of snow. Sky larks, in small 
flocks, were observed, from just after daylight until dusk, flying 
across the Sound from east to north-west, but were not accompanied 
by fieldfares or redwings, as they usually are during or after snow. 
9th. To-day I saw a little stint, killed near Plymouth, which was 
in full winter plumage, much resembling that of the dunlin at this 
time of the year: Ido not remember ever having known one to 
remain so late in this locality before. Two black redstarts were 
captured alive by a birdcatcher this morning, and an adult male 
goldeneye was brought to a birdstuffer at Stonehouse. Scoters are 
very numerous on the coast, and I have noticed a few tufted ducks 
in the market. 
14th. There was a large northern diver off the Plymouth Hoe 
this morning, and at Mr. Lucraft’s, in Stonehouse, I examined a 
Cornish chough recently killed: its stomach contained the remains 
of Coleoptera and very fine sea-sand. Gray plovers and a few 
sheldrakes have lately been received by our birdstuffers. 
