NOTES AND QUERIES. 191 
winter), was dark brown. The legs and toes were flesh-coloured, but much 
whiter than those of an example of L. argentatus which I shot for com- 
parison. The claws of L. glaucus are much stronger than those of L. 
argentatus. My friend Capt. Macdonald has shot examples of Larus 
glaucus in Skye, but only in mid-winter; and I fancy it is only a straggler 
to Skye from the Outer Hebrides. —H. A. Macpuerson (Carlisle). 
The estimated Speed of American Wildfowl.— In his instructive 
book entitled ‘Fifty Years with the Gun and Rod,’ Mr. D. W. Cross 
estimates the speed of various species of wildfowl as follows :—Mallard, 
from 45 to 50 miles an hour; Black Duck, from 45 to 50 miles an hour ; 
Pintail, from 50 to 60 miles; Wood Duck, from 55 to 60 miles an hour; 
Widgeon, 65 to 70 miles an hour; Gadwall, 60 to 70 miles an hour; Red- 
head, 80 to 90 miles an hour; Wild Geese, 80 to 90 miles an hour; Blue- 
wing Teal, 80 to 100 miles an hour; Broadbill, 85 to 110 miles an hour; 
Canvass-back, 85 to 120 miles an hour. Allowing an initial velocity of 
1800 to 2000 feet per second for small shot, the Sportsman can by a slight 
mathematical calculation learn the proper distance to “hold ahead” in 
shooting at ducks on the wing. 
FISHES. 
Early Arrival of Mullet on the Coast of Cornwall.— On March 28th 
I received from Prussia Cove, Mount’s Bay, two Red Mullet, M. surmuletus, 
taken in a trammel on 26th inst. I have recorded much larger specimens; 
but these are very early arrivals, and of a size which at this time of the 
year deserve record. The larger one weighed one pound eight ounces, and 
measured over all one foot two inches. The lesser one weighed one pound 
six ounces, and measured over all—the same as the larger—one foot two 
inches.—Tuomas Cornisu (Penzance). 
CRUSTACEA. 
Loss of Limbs in Stalk-eyed Crustacea. — Mr. E. Lovett’s notes on 
the habits, &c., of the Lobster have been read with much interest; but 
being somewhat sceptical as to some of the alleged facts related in the 
March number of ‘ The Zoologist ’ (p- 103) as to Lobsters « shooting’’ their 
claws through fear, I sought information from an old and well-known 
fisherman, who has probably caught as many Lobsters and Crabs as any 
man living, having done nothing else for sixty years. On being questioned 
as to the stated fact of the Lobster parting with its claws through fear, he 
said he had never known an instance, nor had he ever heard of one, though 
Lobsters occasionally, in struggling to escape when laid hold of at the mouth 
of the pot, leave a claw in the fisherman’s hand. Crabs sometimes lose a 
claw when endeavouring to force their way among the rocks. As to the 
healing of injured limbs, my informant says that both the Lobster and 
