150 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



remark that when I published my • Birds of Somersetshire,' in 1869, I only 

 knew of two specimens of the former. I have not been able to add 

 many more as having come under my notice since then. One killed near 

 Stolford, on the Bristol Channel, in November, 1874, and another near 

 Ilchester in December, 1882, were both duly recorded by me in ' The 

 Zoologist,' and in December last I had a letter from Mr. Sargent, of 

 Clevedon, mentioning the occurrence of another at that place, which 

 I suppose is the bird recorded by Mr. Ford. The Snow Bunting occurs 

 more or less numerously along our coast in most years, but not so regularly 

 or in such numbers as in the neighbouring county of Devon. — Cecil 

 Smith (Bishops Lydeard, Taunton). 



Woodcock in Captivity. — On January 28th a man caught a Wood- 

 cock, which on examination appeared as if it had llown against the telegraph- 

 wires. Not seeming much the worse, I determined to keep it in confinement, 

 and put it in a large cage with plenty of water and sods of earth. I fed it 

 twice every day on worms, which I put in a bo.\ of mud. 1 should think 

 it devoured its own weight of worms in twenty-four hours. It did not feed 

 by sight, but if it touched a worm witli its beak it devoured it immediately. 

 It became very tame, and I allowed it to run and fly about the room ; it 

 always ran to the darkest place tliat could be found. It took suddenly ill 

 and died on February IGth. — V. H. Coates (llathmore, Dunmurry, Co. 

 Antrim). 



FISHES. 



Spinous Shark on the Coast of Cornwall.— A Spinous Shark, Squalus 

 spiiwsus, was brought in here on March 8th, which had been taken on a 

 " boulter," or long line near the Wolf. It measured five feet six inches 

 over all. This species is evidently a ground Shark, and having now seen 

 several specimens I am prepared to say with certainty that the figure given 

 by Yarrell is not correct, and must have been taken from a specimen badly 

 set up, and that I am more than ever inclined to doubt the existence of a 

 Spinous Shark of the figure given by Couch, which is that of a swimming 

 fish, as contrasted with a ground fish. Couch colours his figure of a roseate 

 hue, whilst all the specimens that I have seen— one alive, and all the others 

 within a few hours of their capture — were of a dull leaden hue above, and 

 dusky white, as usual in Sharks, below. Especially noticeable was the 

 large perpendicularly-oblong pea-green pupil of the eye, a feature which 

 Couch has omitted to depict. — Thi)M.\s Cohmsh (Penzance). 



Greater Weaver in Devon. — On visiting the Exeter Market on March 

 7lh to see what kinds of fish were for sale, I was surprised to see, on one of 

 the stalls, between twenty and thirty Greater Weavers, Trachinus draco, L., 

 from ten to twelve inches in length, which the fishwoman said came from 

 Beer, Devon, and that they were the first she had ever had sent to her. 



