THE ZooLocist—FEBRUARY, 1876. 4801 
events, not a bird of the year. It had been observed some little time 
previously, and had been seen flying across Pevensey Marsh, and I believe 
in other localities. It received its death-wound from a man who saw it 
flying over his head. It was hit hard, but did not fall. The next day two 
men observed it in a field. It then could not rise, but managed to escape 
them by running and fluttering. The individual who had wounded it then 
searched for some time fruitlessly, and the bird was discovered at length 
lying dead in a hedge. It is a grand bird, weighing eight pounds.—J. F. 
Gottwaltz ; South Bank, Eastbourne.” —‘ Field,’ Jan. 22, 1876. 
[The first of these records is pseudonymous, and therefore only admissible 
in the ‘ Zoologist’ as corroborated by the second. I trust that, owing to 
recent enactments on behalf of our wild birds, these “last appearances” 
may become of as frequent recurrence as on another stage. — Hdward 
Newman.]} 
The Eye of the Little Ringed Plover.—It is stated in the account of a 
little ringed plover contributed by Mr. Harting (Zool. 9284) that the eye 
“ig surrounded by a circle of a beautiful bright yellow, and looks as if it 
were set in gold.” I took this to mean that the outer rim of the iris was 
yellow, but such has never been the case in the numerous specimens which 
I have examined in Egypt and Algeria, and I have little doubt that I have 
misunderstood the author’s meaning, which I believe to be that the eyelids 
were yellow. It will be satisfactory to me to learn that this is the case, and 
to others who may not have fully understood the sense of the passage.— 
J. H. Gurney, jun. 
American Bittern in Islay—A specimen of this bird was shot in Islay in 
the last week of October: it is in splendid plumage. The sex was un- 
fortunately not noted—James Lumsden, jun.; Arden House, Alexandria, 
N.B. (From the ‘ Field’ of January 22, 1876.) 
Stone Curlew.—The author of the ‘Birds of Norfolk’ (vol. ii., p. 63) 
appears doubtful whether the stone curlews leave the heaths and uplands 
at night to seek food in more cultivated quarters. I can say that this is so, 
and the statement of Mr. Rope (Zool. 8. 8. 3867) that they frequent the 
sandy heaths in Suffolk by day, and ga out about sunset to feed, tallies well 
with my having heard them in Sheringham Park, near Cromer, screeching 
and squealing, at 9 p.m. They are never seen there in the day; it is 
therefore clear that they come from Kelling Heath, four miles distant, 
where I am happy to say that they are on the increase, as I have this year 
(1875) seen a flock of fifty. I have been told, too, by naturalists in a part 
of West Norfolk, where they are common, that they go down to the fens at 
night to feed; yet I know not whether it is more correct to term them 
strictly nocturnal or only crepuscular.—J. H. Gurney, jun. 
Sabine’s Snipe near Penzance.—lI have just seen and examined an inte- 
resting specimen of Sabine’s snipe (Scolopaa Sabini). Ihave seen at different 
