1462 The Zoologist — November, 1868. 



herring fell into the sea when they were taking in tbeir net the petrel dashed after it: 

 it was quite tame, and came alongside the boat until Knaggs got a boat-hook and 

 took it on board. Mr. Bailey fed it on herrings; afterwards he killed it and sent it 

 me, and I forwarded it, in the flesh, to Mr. Gould. These petrels vary much in size 

 and weight : most authors, I observe, slate the legs and eyes to be yellow, but my 

 specimens have had nearly black eyes, and Captain Elwes, who visited St. Kilda last 

 May, is sure they are not yellow. — /. H. Gurney,jun.; Darlington. 



Fulmar Petrel near Sunderland. — On the 15th of September, as Mr. Thomas 

 Simpson was going along the sea-beach at Hendon, near Sunderland, very early in 

 the morning, he observed a dead Fulmar petrel tossing in the waves: when secured it 

 was found to be in excellent feather and nearly adult. I never skinned a bird 

 with the breast plumage so dense. The body was thickly clothed with compact yet 

 elastic feathers upon a close fine down of a darker colour: no wonder the St. Kildians 

 use it for their beds; it must be a great protection against the cold. When per- 

 fectly fresh 1 was struck with the exceeding paleness of the feet and legs, each 

 toe-joint being darker by a shade. The tarsus (less in length than the middle toe) 

 is much compressed, its circumference when fresh three-fourths of an inch : in lieu 

 of a .back toe it has a sort of spur. The web is a delicate striated membrane, partly 

 transparent, showing even the veins; its breadth three inches and a quarter. The 

 windpipe is divided into two channels for about half its length upwards from the 

 divarication of the bronchial tubes, a circumstance noticed by Mr. Backhouse (Zool. 

 1263), but unmentioned in Macgillivray. This is not the case in the storm petrel. — 

 Id. 



Common Skua on the Dogger Bank. — On the 16th of October Mr. Jones sent me a 

 common skua, or "murrel hen," in the flesh, which some fishermen had got on the 

 Dogger Bank. I suspect, from the pale colouring of the edges and tips of the feathers, 

 that it is immature; but the plumage of this species is not subject to any important 

 variation, nor does it assume by age the lighter colours peculiar to the other skuas. — 

 Id. 



Pomarine Skua near Bridlington. — A pomarine skua was shot on the 14th of 

 October, at Bridlington, which I obtained for Dr. Tristram. — Id. 



Richardson's Skua near Flamborough. — Of the species of skua which visit Flam- 

 borough Richardson's is the most numerous, and may annually be seen chasing the 

 terns and smaller gulls: two have been sent me this month in adult plumage. — Id. 



Little Gull at Flamborough. — On the 15th of October I received four little gulls, 

 shot off Flamborough Head, three by Mr. Brook and one by Mr. Bailey. They are 

 light birds, the four together not weighing one pound. — Id. 



Little Gull near Bridlington. — On the 16th Mr. Jones sent me a little gull (an 

 adult in winter plumage), shot by himself at Bridlington Quay. — Id. 



Little Gull near Filey. — On the 17th of October two more little gulls arrived from 

 Filey. Seven in three days is pretty fair work : they were all in the flesh. — Id. 



Little Gull in the Thames. — From amongst a lot of gulls, &c, shot for me a little 

 below Gravesend, I have found a fine adult specimen of the little gull, in winter 

 plumage. This comparatively scarce species of Larus was observed in company with 

 the common tern, and in death run a risk of not being distinguished from them, his 

 late associates with himself being intended for ladies' hat-plumes. — G. B. Ashmead ; 

 Bishopsgate, E.G., October 6, 1868. 



