NOTES AND QUERIES. 499 



many days after he brought me a rather small Wigeon, which he said he 

 had killed with the before-mentioned catapult. It was a male, in rather 

 bright plumage, but thin and meagre in body, aud looking very much as if 

 it had been on " short commons." I concluded that it had beenjnjured, and 

 was unable to follow its companions northward at the proper time, and con- 

 sequently had skulked about aud obtained a precarious livelihood amongst 

 the rushes at the river's edge, although it could undoubtedly fly, but possibly 

 not a long distance. I did not, and do not, for a moment suppose that this 

 species ever breeds in the Avon, although a gentleman told me a few years 

 aoo that eggs of the Wigeon had been taken in Dorset, on the banks of the 



O DO o 



Stour ; but ou looking through his entomological collection I saw several 

 species of moths — of extreme rarity in Great Britain — said to have been 

 taken in the same neighbourhood ; I suspect therefore that, as the moths 

 originated from Southern Europe, the Wigeon's eggs probably came from 

 the opposite direction.— G. B. Corbin (Ringwood, Hants). 



Food of the Carrion Crow and Magpie.— An old disused bridle-gate 

 standing near one corner of Clattercutt Reservoir has this season served as 

 a feeding spot for a pair of Carrion Crows, which reared their young in a 

 tall elm on one side of the pool. One eveniug in June, after the grass was 

 cut, I found strewn round it the remains of several toads and frogs, and of 

 one partly fledged nestling finch, also a number of broken shells of the eggs 

 of the Wild Duck and Partridge. The state the gate was in showed that it 

 was a much frequented perch, and a tell-tale wing-feather would have named 

 the robber even if he had not hurriedly left an adjacent tree at my approach, 

 and with loud croaks expressed his displeasure at my intrusion on his 

 banquetting hall. I have always tried to defend this fine bird, and was 

 sorry to find such ample proof of its destructive habits. Only a few days 

 ago (October, 1883) T counted thirty-two Crows in a stubble-field close to 

 this village, aud considering their abundance in the district, it is only a 

 wonder that any game or wildfowl can rear their young at all. As an 

 additional illustration of the voracity of the Magpie to that given by Mr. 

 Gurney (p. 355), I may mention that during severe weather in December, 

 some years ago, I was one morning shooting Fieldfares as they came to feed 

 in the thorn-bushes, and hearing a loud screaming from the adjoining 

 fallow, I looked over the hedge, and saw a Magpie repeatedly pouncing 

 upon some bird ou the ground in the middle of the field, and which screamed 

 pitifully at each swoop. The Magpie was off directly, and going to pick up 

 the victim I found that it was a Fieldfare, with a broken wing, and which 

 would no doubt have been soon despatched in its helpless condition. — 

 — Oliver V. Aplin (Great Bourton, near Banbury). 



Gulls in the Watershed of the Liffey. — During the winter half of 

 the year four species of gulls spend a considerable part of their time inland. 



