The Zoologist— August, 1868. 1321 



inside its mouth. During that time it was never seen to sit upright, but always main- 

 tained the above-described position, and moreover did not seem to use its legs at all 

 in the act of progression. I mention these facts just as I have noticed them. The 

 female when seen to leave the nest does not ivalk into the water, but scuttles off, and 

 a regularly formed groove in ibe channel or grass between the nest and the water is 

 always plainly discernible. But, on the other hand, a gentleman in Edinburgh, who 

 has a good knowledge of the habits of our British birds, and to whom my birdstuffer 

 applied for a drawing of the bird to assist him in setting it up, drew a portrait of it in 

 an upright position (see Morris's 'British Birds,' vol. vi. p. 11), and assured him that 

 that was the position most natural to it. If so, is it not strange that I, who have had 

 abundant opportunities of watching these birds, and have availed myself of them over 

 and over again, both with the naked eye and with a good glass, have never yet seen 

 them assume a like position, and that moreover the natives who have lived amongst 

 their haunts all their lives have, as I stated before, never seen them assume any 

 oiher than that which I have attempted to describe? I shall be much obliged to 

 any of the readers of the ' Zoologist' who may have seen the blackthroated diver in its 

 breeding haunts, if they will say whether or not they have seen them sitting as figured 

 in Morris's 'British Birds,' or as described and drawn by the gentleman above 

 referred to. — John A. Harvie Broivn ; July 6, 1868. 



A regular Visitor. — A land-turtle has been known to make thirty-seven annual 

 visits to a particular locality on the farm of James A. Smith, near Mapleville, Burrill- 

 ville, R. I. Whenever seen by Mr. Smith himself he has caught his turtleship and 

 marked the year on the shell. The first one, still quite legible, is "J. A. S., 1831." 

 The other years inscribed are 1834, 1840, 1844, 1845, 1852, 1855, 1861, 1862, 1863, 

 1864, 1865, 1868. So regular have been this tortoise's visits that Mr. Smith and 

 family would suffer the loss of a real pleasure should they be intermitted. 



Large Salmon in the Severn. — A large salmon was exhibited in the shop of 

 Mr. Davis, fishmonger, of Gloucester, on Saturday, the 4th instant: it weighed when 

 taken out of the water fifty pounds, and was caught on one of the fisheries near Ber- 

 keley: it was in fine condition, and is, I believe, the largest Severn salmon that has 

 been caught this season. — Edward Sweetapple ; Cone Mill, Lydney, July 14, 1868. 



Is Whitebait the Young of the Herring? 



[This vexed question seems to have undergone solution. Dr. Giinther, than 

 whom we have no higher authority, emphatically declares that he finds the specific 

 characters to be the same in both : the following extracts from that admirable paper, 

 the ' Field,' will I think be likely to be received as conclusive. — Edward Newman.] 



Hie British Species of Herrings. — At the Meeting of the Zoological 

 Society, on Thursday last, Dr. A. Giinther gave a description of the 



SKCOND SERIES— VOL. III. 2 Q 



