4992 Tue ZooLocist—Juty, 1876. 
before mentioned was in rather unusual plumage, for although the 
sides and thighs were finely barred, the whole of the belly from 
the lower part of the chest was beautifully marked with well-defined 
heart-shaped spots. 
Swallow.—April 15 (the day after a tremendous gale from the 
north-east, with hail and snow). Observed some swallows. The 
wind had changed to the south-east, and the weather became 
rather mild. 
Swift.— April 28. Remarked the first swift, and on the 29th saw 
several more. Wind strong, but the weather mild. I have ob- 
served for the last few years that swifts have become more 
numerous in the immediate vicinity of Plymouth than either 
swallows or martins. ‘ 
Whimbrel.—April 29. Saw and heard several whimbrels to-day, 
and also on the Ist of May. 
Rook.—May 2. Many young rooks in the Plymouth market. 
Godwits.—An unusual number of bartailed godwits in spring 
plumage seem to have made their appearance on the coasts of 
Devon and Cornwall, and many have been killed. The stomachs 
of some examined by me contained the remains of “sand-hoppers.” 
Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., in a letter to me, also mentions having 
met with several in Leadenhall Market, together with one black- 
tailed godwit and a fine spotted redshank, all I believe more or 
less in summer plumage. Some of these godwits seem to have 
been very tame, for on the 10th of May a young friend of mine, 
Mr. R. Hocking, of Stonehouse, told me that he had that morning 
killed a strange bird from one of the windows of his house, with a 
“pea-rifle,” as it was leisurely feeding on a kind of beech just below: 
on examination I at once found it to be an exceedingly fine male 
bartailed godwit in full summer dress: strange to say, it was the first 
bird of any kind he had ever killed in his life. After that I examined 
others obtained in the neighbourhood, all more or less in the 
nuptial garb, and found the females to exceed the males generally 
in size and length of bill, but with far less red on the plumage,— 
indeed some with scarcely any at all; and this I have been informed 
was the case with the birds seen and obtained in Cornwall. 
Herring Gull and Peregrine Falcon.—\ am sorry to say that, 
owing to a severe attack of rheumatism, I have not as yet been 
able to visit the breeding-place of the herring gulls at Wembury, 
but some friends of mine who went there a short time since told 
