OCCASIONAL NOTES. 309 
of Erris, in October, 1877, one was shot, and another subsequently trapped. 
The latter, a gander, was after a temporary confinement placed with some 
domesticated geese. I have just been informed that it is still alive, and 
after slaying a rival in fair fight, has paired with one of the common geese, 
and assisted to rear a little family of goslings. As this is, I believe, the 
first time that so remarkable a cross has occurred, it seems well worthy of 
being placed on record. As the goslings are still too young to judge of 
what their adult appearance may be, a description must, for the present, be 
reserved.—J. E. Harrina. 
Rare Brirps 1n Somersetsuire.—Mr. H. Mathias, of Haverfordwest, 
has a small collection of Somersetshire birds which he purchased some few 
years ago at the sale of Mr. Spalding, of Chilton Poldon, near Bridgewater, 
who was a collector of local antiquities and rare birds. Among these last 
were a Black-winged Stilt, a Bee-eater, and a Little Crake, all obtained near 
Bridgewater, and also a Pratincole, shot on the Mendips, “ near Weston- 
super-Mare.” As the number of British-killed Pratincoles is very small, it 
is worth while to record this one, of which no information, so far as I know, 
exists in any local catalogue—Murray A. Maraew (Stonehall, Wolf’s 
Castle, R.S.O., Pembrokeshire.) 
Supcuranrous Worms In Perncrine Fatcon.—At page 515 of ‘The 
Zoologist’ for 1880, Mr. A. Bevington reports that, in a Peregrine which 
he examined, he found several white worms under the skin at the back of 
the abdomen. I had an opportunity last winter of dissecting a female bird 
of this species in dark plumage, which appeared to me to be a very old 
bird, the muscles being exceedingly tough; and in this specimen I found 
numerous long thread-like bodies closely imbedded between the peritoneum 
and subserous tissue both at the back of the liver and stomach. So firmly 
were they invested that I had regularly to dissect them out, and I fear have 
broken them in places. J send them for your inspection, together with a 
piece of tissue still containing one or part of one.—HeErsert Lancron 
(Brighton and Hove Dispensary, Brighton). 
[We forwarded the phial and its contents to Dr. Spencer Cobbold, 
whose special knowledge on the subject of Entozoa renders his opinion in 
a case of this kind most valuable, and he has been good enough to send us 
the following interesting report.—Eb.] 
“The parasites submitted to my examination are examples of Filaria 
attenuata. In the month of April, 1855, I removed a worm of this 
species from the back of the abdomen of a Peregrine. This worm 
measured as much as ten and a half inches in length (Linn. Trans., 
vol. xxii., p. 164). Friliarie are remarkably abundant in the muscles and 
soft parts, not only of the rapacious, but also of the passerine and some 
