110 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Life Guards; and, at the same show, Mr. E. T. Keys, of Beresford Street, 
Woolwich, exhibited a bird which he described as a cock hybrid between 
Skylark and Sparrow, but which was nothing more nor less than a Common 
Bunting (H'mberiza miliaria), as 1 learnt from Mr. A. D. Bartlett, who saw 
all the above-mentioned specimens.—J. E. Harrine. 
New Colonies of the Black-headed Gull in Norfolk.—When visiting 
Somerton Broad, in 1884, I saw a number of Black-headed Gulls in very 
immature plumage (some of them, indeed, only just able to fly), and was 
informed that a few pairs had established a new colony on the edge of this 
piece of water. It was then too late in the season to look for nests, but 
last summer another visit was paid in May, with the result that we found a 
colony firmly established. ‘Twenty-one nests contained eggs, and about 
forty more were ready for eggs. The establishment of any new colony of 
this marsh-loving Gull is, I think, a matter of more than local interest. In 
1883 Mr. F. Norgate found a colony at Langmere, near Thetford, consisting 
of forty or fifty nests. I saw no signs of them in the preceding year (1882), 
when at the same lake, and Mr. Norgate is informed they did not nest 
there in 1884, so very likely they only nested there one year, and have now 
gone back to the parent gullery at Scoulton, distant, as the crow flies, nine 
miles, where I learn from Mr. E. Newton, who has been there lately, that 
the Gulls are doing well. Mr. T. Southwell tells me that the Hoveton 
Broad colony has moved to Little Hoveton Broad, a distance of a mile and 
a half,—it is to be hoped not a premonitory symptom of their breaking up 
altogether in a locality where they have now been established thirty years. 
The small colony which existed at Barton Broad a few years ago (see 
‘Catalogue of the Birds of Norfolk,’ p. 36), is extinct, and seems never to 
have consisted of more than a nest or two. The movements of Gull 
colonies are rather erratic: for a list of those existing up to 1884, see 
J. HK. Harting, ‘ The Field,’ Feb. 2nd and 16th, 1884, and H. Saunders, 
Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds,’ 4th ed., pt. xxii. These writers justly consider 
that there are few marsh species which have suffered less than the Black- 
headed Gull.—J. H. Gurney, jun. (Northrepps, Norwich). 
Changes of Plumage in the Kestrel—When does the male Kestrel 
assume its perfect adult plumage? I do not say “ breeding plumage,” 
because probably it breeds before assuming the perfect adult plumage. 
From the series I have before me, it seems to me to take longer than has 
generally been allowed. Mr. Dresser says :—“ The first signs of adolescence 
appear on the upper tail-coverts, which become bluish grey ; and afterwards 
the tail gets gradually grey, the black bars by degrees disappearing, while 
the blue head is the last to be donned. We have seen a specimen shot in 
December which had the blue tail of the male, but preserved the rufous 
head of the female, while examples killed as late as May have slight 
