430 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



it generally does so in Norfolk I feel sure, the contrary opinion having 

 perhaps arisen from the circumstance of its being so late a migrant. That 

 the eggs at Cawston were a second laying by birds which had had young 

 previously, I think, as I saw four young ones at the same place able to fly 

 on the 19th of the month previous (July). These would have been at least 

 twenty-one days old, most likely older, and two of them were probably the 

 first brood of the pair whose eggs Mr. Norgate and I found on August 4th. 

 Considerable doubt is expressed on the point in Yarrell ( Brit. Birds, 4th 

 ed., p. 383), the editor evidently thinking that if second broods occur they 

 are rare. This year Nightjars have been very scarce with us. I have only 

 seen two young ones, and their familiar "jarring" has been quite a rare 

 sound. — J. H. Guhney, jun. (Northrepps, Norwich). 



Note of the Long-eared Owl. — One evening in May, 1879, I was 

 standing at dusk in a dense wood of tall firs at Tower Hill, Co. Limerick, 

 where I had often seen birds of this species. One suddenly made its 

 appearance, and perched in a larch close by; and T then heard it several 

 times utter, at intervals of about a quarter of a minute, a very plaintive 

 single note in a high key, which I syllabled "moo." The bird after a 

 short time quitted the tree and perched in another, when it was shot by a 

 boy who accompanied me. I have never had an opportunity of hearing the 

 Tawny Owl, and do not know whether the sound I heard can rightly be 

 described as a hoot ; but certainly, if " hooting " consists of the same note 

 two or three times continuously repeated, the cry I heard cannot be classed 

 as such. With regard to the very strange quacking note of the Long-eared 

 Owl (described by Mr. Ussher, Zool. 188vJ, p. 265), is it not singular that 

 this sound has not (apparently) been heard by English ornithologists, and 

 that, as far as I am aware, no mention is made of it in any of the text-books 

 on British birds ? I cannot say how extraordinary this latter note seemed 

 to me. It is impossible that a better description could have been given of 

 it. — William W. Flemyng (Clonegam Rectory, Portlaw, Co. Waterford). 



FISHES. 



Occurrence of the Tunny in the Exe.— On the 14th inst. a specimen 

 of the Tunny, Orcy>tus ihymnus, was left by the tide in a pool, on the Exe, 

 a mile above Topsham, and above seven miles from the sea. Length from 

 tip of snout to notch of caudal fin, 3 ft. lOV in. ; girth at commencement 

 of first dorsal fin. 26-^ in. ; width, from root of first dorsal to root of 

 ventral fin, 16 in. The pectoral fin is 9 in. in length, aud reaches to the 

 tenth ray of the first dorsal. The first dorsal has 13 rays, the pectorals 31, 

 aud the ventrals 1'6. The pectorals, first dorsal, and ventrals are sunk in 

 deep grooves in the skin. The first ray of the first dorsal is the longest, 

 the eighth the shortest. Length of each lobe of the caudal fin, 9 iu. ; from 

 tip to tip of caudal, 1 ft. If in. : length of head, 12£ in. ; diameter of eye, 



