436 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Booth has some remarks on the point in his ‘Descriptive Catalogue of 
Birds’ (p. 194), which are taken from practical observation. He says :— 
‘“‘ While in the down the eye of this species is a bright grey. During their 
first autumn and winter I have observed the iris both a dull orange and a 
bright lemon-yellow; this gradually changes until it assumes the brilliant 
red which is seen in the adult in summer.” In an example shot at 
Hempstead some years ago in November, the eye was noted down at the 
time as red, and no doubt correctly so; but I have had no recent oppor- 
tunity of handling any Grebes in the flesh. A sudden change in the eye 
from one colour to another in the space of a few hours is incomprehensible, 
and very misleading to any one who is in the habit of noting down the 
colours of the soft parts. On June 15th a Great Crested Grebe quitted 
her eggs on Fritton Lake without covering them. On the 25th I saw her 
again quit the eggs, and saw her cover up the eggs in doing so. The 
action was almost momentary,—a couple of tugs with the beak, and that 
was all. Mr. Seebohm considers that the eggs are not covered by the 
Grebe until she begins to sit (‘ British Birds,’ pt. iv., p. 457). Certainly 
her object must be to hide them from view, and it is singular if she does 
not hide them when they are freshly laid. In Mr. Seebohm’s vignette 
(p. 464) the nest is represented as more cup-shaped than any I have seen 
on our Broads.—J. H. Gurney, jun. (Northrepps, Norwich). 
[We have observed a similar change in the colour of the iris of the 
Pochard, Fuligula ferina, and have remarked that it is yellow in immature 
birds, orange as they grow older, and red in the adult.—Eb.] 
Birds at Sea. — On August 23rd, while homeward bound between 
Gibraltar and Plymouth, in lat. 42° 45’ N., long. 11° 07’ W., a number of 
Grey Phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicarius) were seen, some sitting upon the 
water, and others flying past the ship. They were first noticed about 9 o’clock 
in the forenoon, and in the course of an hour I counted more than a hundred 
of them. They were all in winter dress. The next day, about noon, when 
in lat. 44° 50’ N., long. 9° 45’ W., seven Cranes (Grus cinerea) approached 
the ship, wheeled round her several times, and then flew off, low over the 
sea, in a south-easterly direction. The same afternoon we were visited by a 
Titlark, and the following day, in lat. 46° 33’ N., long. 7° 28’ W., two 
Chaffinches and a Humming-bird Hawk Moth (Macroglossa stellatarum) 
enlivened us by their presence.—GrrvasE F, Maraew (Instow, N. Devon). 
Ring Ouzel feeding on Cherries.—The fact (as related at pp. 346, 
386-7) of the Ring Ouzel’s partiality for cherries is no new one. In 
Hutchinson’s ‘ History of Cumberland,’ 1794, p. 457, parish of Ulswater, 
speaking of this species he says:— “It is commonly called the Fell 
Throstle. When perched on the edge of a rock, it makes the hills echo with 
its loud note. It delights in black cherries, of which there is a great 
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