422 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
wildfowl were shot on the Solent last winter :—The Egyptian Goose, the 
Bean Goose, two female Mergansers, and three Shieldrakes. A Grey 
Phalarope was also procured near Ryde. I have been informed by 
Mr. Dimmick that a Peregrine Falcon was shot some time ago at Rowlands, 
a farm in East Medina, when making a stoop at a Pigeon set up as a lure. 
A few weeks since a Carrier Pigeon alighted on a dovecot in the town; 
inscribed on the inner web of a pure white feather of each wing is the 
following direction, clearly printed :—*“ Southern Counties Club, No. 2438. 
Young.” Few Swallows have been seen in the Undercliff this season, and 
they were late in appearing; one only observed up to April 28th. Martins, 
though late in arriving, are abundant. Nightingales have been plentiful ; 
first heard on April 12th. Native songsters rarely met with, few having 
survived the severe winter. Mr. Rogers, naturalist, tells me that birds of 
the following species nested this summer in the Freshwater cliffs :— 
Peregrine Falcon, Raven, Shag, and Cormorant, besides the usual Gulls 
and other sea-fowl.— H. Hapriexp (High Cliff, Ventnor, Isle of Wight). 
JAY FEEDING ON OAK-GALLS.—I have been interested at seeing in 
‘ The Zoologist’ Mr. Frank Norgate’s valuable contribution entitled “* Notes 
on the Food of Birds” (pp. 321, 322). Amongst the varied articles men- 
tioned he does not name one certainly fed on by some of our birds, viz., 
oak-galls. Many years ago a relative who was a sportsman killed, to my 
regret, near Egg Buckland, Devon, some young Jays that had recently left 
the nest, when I found that the parent birds had been feeding them with 
the small round, semi-translucent galls so common on the leaves of the oak, 
but of the scientific name of which I am ignorant. Comparatively recently 
an instance of a bird having fed on another kind, also met with on the oak, 
was brought under my notice. The gall in this case was the very different 
one, with flat sides, commonly known as the ‘oak-spangle.” Of these my 
brother found a great number in the crop of a Water Rail shot by a friend 
in the neighbourhood of Launceston, Cornwall.—T. R. ArcuEr Briaes 
(Richmond Villa, Plymouth). 
CuHoucH IN OxrorDsHIRE.—On the 8th of April last I examined a 
specimen of the Chough at our village birdstuffer’s. It appears to be not 
fully matured, the legs being a reddish orange and the bill yellow; the latter 
seemed unusually short. On dissection I found it to be a female. The 
bird was in very good condition; the stomach contained the remains of 
several small beetles and one caterpillar entire, about an inch long. It was 
killed in Broughton Park, probably the same day that I saw it. This is, 
I believe, the first occuarence of the bird in the district, and I have no 
other record of its having been obtained in Oxfordshire.— Ottver V. APLIN 
(Bodicote, Oxon). 
[Possibly an Alpine Chough escaped from confinement.—Eb. ] 
