OCCASIONAL NOTES. $87 
Cuckoo's egg out of her nest with her bill, and early next morning he 
replaced it. When he took me to the nest a few hours afterwards we found 
the egg again turned out, the Cuckoo having laid another in the nest, 
which was now forsaken by the Tree Pipit. The nest, with the two Cuckoo’s 
and three Tree Pipit’s eggs, is now in my possession.—Bryan Hoox 
(Farnham). 
Common BuzzarD NEAR Croypon.—On July 8th a male Buzzard was 
shot at Sanderstead, near Croydon, by Mr. Bridge’s keeper. It seems 
strange that one should be in this neighbourhood at this season of the 
year.—Puitip Crow zy (Croydon). 
KESTRELS NESTING IN HOLES IN T'REES.—I have seen in Surrey this 
summer two Kestrel’s nests in holes in trees, which is not a very usual site. 
One was about two feet down in an elm, the other about one foot down in 
an ash.—J. H. Gurney, Jun. (Northrepps, Norwich). 
[In the summer of 1876 a pair of Kestrels nested in the hollow of an old 
pollard at Bromley, Kent. The nest was not more than ten feet from the 
ground, and contained six eggs, four of which were taken, and the remaining 
two in due course hatched.— Ep. | 
Water Newrts IN THE Co. Corx.— Water Newts, Lissotriton punctatus, 
Bell, are to be seen in a pond near the village of Currieglass, in the County 
Cork, and have been seen in two or three other places near the pond. In 
Thompson's ‘ Natural History of Ireland,’ it is stated that no species of 
Newt has been found in the Counties of Cork or Kerry.— CHARLES 
LoneFiELp (Church Hill, Desertserges, Bandon). 
Basxine SHark 1n Torquay Harspour.—On the evening of June 21st 
a Shark was observed swimming about the inner harbour of Torquay, and 
after an exciting chase was at length gaffed and hauled into a boat. It 
proved to be a specimen of the Basking Shark, Squalus maximus, weighing 
about three hundredweight, and measured eight feet four inches in length 
and three feet eight inches round the body. The late Dr. J. E. Gray has 
the following statement, in his description of the genus :—“ Scales with 
small curved points bent in all directions, so that the skin feels rough each 
way.” But Dr. Fleming says that the Basking Shark is smooth when the 
hand is passed from head to tail. I have found by experiment on the 
Torquay specimen that Dr. Fleming was quite correct. Couch remarks 
that ‘the food of this fish is not known.” According to an Orkney news- 
paper which he quotes, the Basking Shark does not object to ‘‘a mouthful 
of herrings.” The captor of the Torquay specimen informed me that he 
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