NOTES AND QUERIES. 383 



One of the worms had eventually caused the death of the bird, as T found 

 it in the pericardium, and there was extensive pericardatis. Some little 

 time back I found some of the same (?) worms in a Blue-bearded Jay, 

 Cyanocorax chrysops. — Herbert Langton (1 15, Queen's Road, Brighton). 

 [On receipt of the specimens referred to we forwarded them to Prof. 

 Spencer Cobbold, and invited his opinion. He has been kind enough to 

 report as follows: — "The parasites from the Hornbill are of the species 

 Filaria attenuata. Mr. Langton 's 'find' is interesting, not only because 

 no parasites have hitherto, so far as I am aware, been described from the 

 Bucerotida, but also because, as he has informed us, one of the worms 

 had caused a fatal result to the avian host. With the particular worm in 

 question such an issue is certainly rare. As regards the Jay, if the worms 

 were as long as those found in the Hornbill, they would undoubtedly be 

 identical. In reference to the Entozoa of the larger and rarer exotic 

 conirostral birds, little or nothing has been done. In Cyanocorax pileatns 

 (Gray) an encysted Tapeworm or Ligule was long ago obtained from the 

 muscles aud subcutaneous tissues. As regards the worms obtained by 

 Mr. E. J. Gibbins from the Red-backed Shrike (p. 345) permit me to 

 observe that they were unquestionably those of another species — namely, 

 ■ Filaria nodulosa. Only the male worm has been properly described, and 

 that by Schneider." — Ed.] 



Subcutaneous Worms in Birds, — Alluding to Mr. Gibbins' discovery 

 of subcutaneous worms in a Shrike (p. 345), I may mention that I have 

 found very few birds, of whose food animal life in any shape forms a part, 

 without some kind of internal parasite, and I have been in the habit of 

 collecting examples from all kinds of birds for years. As an instance, the 

 Blackbird, when adult, will seldom be found to be without tapeworm, of 

 which three, if not four, species would appear to attack it occasionally. 

 Large Filaria also are found in the intestine. Tn addition, an adult 

 Blackbird will nearly always be found (at least this is my experience) to 

 have a small Filaria under the tendon of Achilles. All this will doubtless 

 result from the Blackbird's fondness for pulmonate mollusca, which are 

 such a fertile source of internal annoyance to some mammals, as well as to 

 birds. The alimentary canal of a Kingfisher, which I dissected lately in 

 Buckinghamshire, contained nothing recognisable but five pairs of small 

 otoliths of fish, probably of small Dace, on which alone the digestive fluids 

 seemed unable to act. — H. H. Slater (Whitley, Newcastle-ou-Tyne). 



ARCHEOLOGY. 



Wild Geese formerly breeding in Cambridgeshire. — It would be 

 interesting to ascertain when Wild Geese finally ceased to breed in our 

 English fens. I have lately come across a letter which throws a little light 



