The Zoologist— July, 1868. 1295 



the quail in our vicinity.— Charles E. Stubbs; Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, June 14 

 1868. 



Lillle Bitlern at Braunton, North Devon.— I have been informed that, in the first 

 week of May, a little bittern was killed at Braunton, near Barnstaple, by one of the 

 keepers of Sir W. Williams, Bart.— M. A. Mathew ; Weston-super-Mare, May 19, 

 1868. 



Spoonbill on the Norfolk Coast.— Two immature male birds were shot on the 4th 

 of May near Yarmouth. Both birds were apparently about the same age, but one 

 was much larger, weighing four pounds, the other only three and a half pounds : they 

 were both rather fat. A day or two afterwards, I was told, a beautiful old male was 

 shot in the same locality. — T. E. Gunn; Norwich. 



Rare Sea Birds.— Within the last few months I have skinned the following sea 

 birds :— Little gull (2), Iceland gull, glaucous gull (5), greater shearwater, Fulmar 

 petrel, spotted redshank, little auk (3), gray phalarope, pomarine skua (3), great skua, 

 and ringed guillemot. I can furnish full particulars ; several were given me by my 

 friend Mr. J. Gatcombe. — J. H. Gurne?j,jun. ; Bank, Darlington. 



A strange Bird.— Copiapo, Chili, April, 1868. Yesterday, at about five o'clock in 

 the afternoon, when the daily labours in this mine were over, and all the workmen 

 were together awaiting their supper, we saw coming through the air, from the side of 

 the ternera, a gigantic bird, which at first sight we took for one of the clouds then 

 partially darkening the atmosphere, supposing it to have been separated from the rest 

 by the wind. Its course was from north-west to south-east; its flight rapid and in a 

 straight line. As it was passing a short distance above our heads we could mark the 

 strange formation of its body. Its immense wings were clothed with a grayish 

 plumage, its monstrous head was like that of a locust, its eyes were wide open and 

 shone like burning coals; it seemed to be covered with something resembling the thick 

 and stout bristles of a boar, while on its body, elongated like that of a serpent, we 

 could only see brilliant scales, which clashed together with a metallic sound as the 

 strange animal turned its body in its flight.— Copiapo {Chili) paper. 



Large Sturgeon in the Severn.— It may be interesting to some of the readers of the 

 '- Zoologist' to know that on Thursday, the 28th of May, a sturgeon was caught in the 

 Severn, near Newnham, and kept alive by being anchored in the river till Saturday 

 morning. The fish measured seven feet eight inches long: I have not yet been able 

 to get at its weight. — Edward Sweelapple. 



Homelyn Ray and Gemmeous Dragonet off Plymouth. — I have just received a 

 specimen of the Homelyn ray (R. maculata), the smallest I ever saw : it was a male 

 6 inches long over all, 2£ inches long from the snout to the origin of the tail, which, 

 as will be seen, was of the disproportionate length usual in young rays; across the 

 wings from tip to tip the fish was 3| inches : the spots were developed, but disappeared 

 soon after death : the spines were all developed in the precise order given by Yarrell. 

 The same trawl which took this fish took the yellow skulpin or gemmeous dragonet 

 (Callionymus Lyra) and the Asterias Placenta of Pennant. — Thomas Cornish; 

 Penzance, May 14, 1868. 



