5126 © THE ZooLtocist—OcToBER, 1876. 
stream rapid. It had not been there more than a minute when a sparrow- 
hawk swept over a high hedge close by; observing this, the sandpiper 
dropped off the stump into the pool, like a piece of lead, and the hawk went 
on: the bird then came cautiously out on to the gravel bed it had left on 
perceiving my approach. I do not remember the year this occurred in, but 
I was a young man, and I am now nearly eighty-four years of age.—James 
Cooper; Dole’s Cottages, Sankey Bridges, near Warrington. 
Great Snipe in Devon.—On the 23rd of August a beautiful specimen of 
the great snipe was killed on Dartmoor. Although not a very large bird, 
T feel sure, from the state of its plumage and general appearance, that it is 
an adult one. The markings are particularly dark and well defined; but 
the extreme edges or margins of the feathers have become rather light 
from exposure, and much worn from constant preening, which would not be 
the case with a young bird of the year—John Gatcombe. 
Little Crake at Hastings.—When at Hastings last week I bought a little 
crake for my collection. It was brought in to be preserved on or about the 
16th of April. It was very stale, and had the appearance of not being shot; 
probably the verdict was “found dead.” One other Hastings little crake 
(recorded in the ‘ Zoologist’ some years since) was, if I remember right, 
caught by acat. The bird obtained this year is in the brown plumage, 
with much white on the throat, and the bars on the flanks indistinct. Its 
a very large specimen; this may be-partly in the stuffing, but I think the 
little crake is a decidedly larger bird than Baillon’s.—J. H. Gurney, jun. ; 
Antwerp. 
Velvet Scoter.—On the 14th of June last, when driving round the head 
of Loch Scridain, an arm of the sea on the west coast of the island of Mull, 
in company with my friend Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown, I observed a pair of 
velvet scoters sitting on the water a little way off the shore. From the 
lateness of the date, it is not at all impossible that they were breeding on 
the moors on the adjoining hillside——J. J. Dalgleish ; Brankston Grange, 
Culross, N. B., September 13, 1876. 
Does the Common Gull breed in the Scilly Isles !—I shall be obliged 
to any of your correspondents who would tell me if they ever knew positively 
of the common gull (Larus canus) breeding on Annet, or any other of the 
Scilly Isles. I have some eggs that are said to have been taken there this 
year.— William H. Heaton ; Meadow Croft, Reigate, September 20, 1876. 
[The common gull is not found in the Scilly Isles in summer, nor is it 
by any means so common there in winter as the kittiwake, herring or lesser 
blackbacked gulls. Mr. Vingoe, of Penzance, on visiting Scilly in the 
breeding season found no common gulls there, and Mr. Rodd is equally 
certain that this bird does not breed in the Land’s End district—Eb.] 
Herring Gulls at Tintagel. Passing through the churchyard, where the 
graves were covered, to the depth of a foot and more, with lady’s bedstraw 
—_—  ——— 
