54 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
November 30th, 1883, I found in an adult female Kingfisher a 
stone-loach which measured three inches in length; the head of 
the fish lodging in its stomach was decomposed ; the rest of the 
fish being in its gullet was comparatively fresh, and therefore 
easily recognised. 
Sporrep WooprreckEer. — Picus major, seems to be on the 
increase in the eastern counties; an unusual number was killed 
between November, 1883, and the end of March, 1884, in different 
parts of Norfolk and Suffolk, and I observed several pairs nesting 
in the fir-plantations within a few miles’ radius of Norwich. 
Being rather a shy bird, it requires a great deal of patient 
watching to detect its presence. The increase of this species, as 
also that of the Long-eared Owl, is doubtless due mainly to the 
strict preservation of game, and the comparatively quiet state of 
the woods and plantations during the nesting season.* To this 
cause is also doubtless due the additions noted in the numbers of 
the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker ; these birds have been steadily 
increasing for the past three or four years. An adult male Picus 
minor was shot whilst flymg over a field adjoining Unthanks 
Road, just on the outskirts of Norwich, on the afternoon of 
September 19th last. On dissection I found in the stomach a 
larva of the wood leopard moth (Z. esculi) and the remains of 
another; this insect seems to be a favourite food with both 
Picus major and minor (see Zool. 1884, pp. 6, 7). 
SrorteD RepsHanx. — Four Spotted Redshanks, Totanus 
fuscus, were killed out of a ‘‘ bunch” of seven by one shot from 
a swivel gun by Mr. Ward, of Lynn, in that neighbourhood, on 
October 28th, 1883. I found two of them to be adult, and two in 
immature plumage. The sexes and weights were as follows :— 
Immature male, 63 oz.; adult male, 7 oz.; adult male, 7 oz.; 
immature female, 8 oz. 
Rurr. — A Reeve came to hand on January 5th, 1884, just 
killed on the coast at Aldborough, Suffolk. The ovary contained 
from twenty to thirty eggs about the size of an ordinary pin’s 
head, and in the stomach were the remains of some insects and 
fibrous substance. In the gullet I found a caddis-worm and its 
case entire. The bird was fat and in good feather. On Septem- 
** The increase referred to is more likely to be due to migration, as no 
unusual efforts at game-preserving have been made of late years.—Eb. 
