22 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Buffon's Skua and Little Auk in Co. Waterford.— On the 14th 

 October an immature specimen of Buffon's Skua was shot on the Comeraghs, 

 at a distance of fifteen miles from the sea. It attracted the notice of the 

 gentleman who shot it by swooping down like a hawk at some Golden 

 Plover. On the 19th November a Little Auk was found alive in a ditch 

 about seven miles from the sea. After its capture it was placed in a large 

 tub of water, but has since died. It is an adult bird in beautiful plumage, 

 and not very thin. A Storm Petrel and a Turtle were washed ashore at 

 Tramore a few days ago. — J. C. Baker (Newtown, Waterford). 



Osprey and Buzzard in Lincolnshire. — Mr. Barber, taxidermist, of 

 Lincoln, showed me an Osprey and a Honey Buzzard, both of which were 

 recently shot in the neighbourhood of Lincoln. Two or three specimens of 

 the Rough-legged Buzzard and one at least of the Common Buzzard were 

 shot not far from here at the end of last year. Mr. Barber also showed me 

 a white Jay, without a single normal marking, taken this year from a nest 

 which also contained a pied specimen. — W. W. Fowler (Lincoln). 



Glossy Ibis in Lincolnshire. — An immature specimen of this bird 

 was shot at Skegness, Lincolnshire, on the 9th September, 1881. On 

 dissection it proved to be a male. — J. Cullingford (University Museum, 

 Durham). [This is the specimen to which reference is made, Zool. 1881, 

 p. 469.— Ed.] 



Spinous Shark at Penzance. — Two fishermen of St. Michael's 

 Mount, fishing with hook and line within the headlands of the Bay in about 

 fourteen fathoms water, caught a Spinous Shark on the morning of Deeember 

 12th. Before I saw the fish it had been completely gutted aud very much 

 cut up, and buried in a pile of manure ; but I had it dug up, and saw the 

 remains of the head (the jaws had been cut out). All the back part of the 

 belly and the dorsals and caudal fin were entire. The fish measured eight 

 feet four inches over all, and I was told that it weighed three hundredweight, 

 with which statement my judgment agrees. The head was very rough, 

 with tubercles on it, but there were no spines. All over the back and two 

 dorsals, and over the thicker part of the tail, there were the irregularly- 

 placed sharp spines characteristic of the fish, but they were not so numerous 

 nor so long as those which I had before seen, and I could find none on the 

 part of the belly which I saw. I was particular in examining this, because 

 I had been told beforehand that there were no spines on the belly. The 

 tail was very large, and had both lobes fully developed. The stomach of 

 the fish contained a rusty conger-hook, and nothing else. This is remark- 

 able, isasmuch as in nearly, if not all, the recorded specimens, of which the 

 stomachs have been examined, the same emptiness has been observed. It 

 is probable that the fish may have been near the ground on which it was 



