478 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
very plump in condition, and (as testified by the contents of its 
stomach and crop) had recently visited a bees’ nest. 
A male example of Picus major was shot near Norwich on 
October 23rd, 1884. The red of the vent extended over the 
abdomen, and was of a more brilliant tint than usual; there 
were also a few scarlet feathers on its chest, and several other 
feathers were tinged with the same hue; this is rather unusual, 
and, I am inclined to think, indicates age. In its stomach i 
found a spider and a large quantity of the white kernels of hazel 
nuts and a few pebbles. The presence of vegetable food of any 
kind in the stomach of a Woodpecker is (according to my 
experience) very unusual. Twenty years ago a somewhat 
similar instance came under my notice (Zool., 1865, p. 9468), 
the stomach of a Green Woodpecker which I examined in 
October being filled with oats and the fragments of two or three 
acorns. Naumaun states that acorns form an occasional article 
of diet with Picus viridis, and Bechstein asserts that this bird 
will crack nuts. 
A cock Linnet (Linota cannabina) was brought to me on 8th 
May last which had just died, after living as a caged bird just 
seventeen years in the possession of a Mr. Lincoln of this city. 
I have kept Goldfinches from eight to ten years, and have known 
canaries to live even twenty years. 
At page 480 of ‘The Zoologist’ for 1885 I recorded the 
capture of a female Roller near Norwich, and, having twenty 
years previously received a male bird, I have compared the two, 
with the following result :—The principal measurements were— 
In total length (beak and tail inclusive), male 123 in., female 
131 in.; expanse of wing, male 25 in., female 253 in.; wing 
(from carpus), male 7§ in., female 7% in.; bill to gape, male 
13 in., female 13 in.; tail, male 5 in., female 5 in. The female, 
being slightly the larger of the two, weighed 43 ounces. 
A Blackbird was shot at Flegeburgh, near Yarmouth, Dee. 
8th, 1884, which had the head, neck, and under parts of a 
rufous brown; crown of head, back, wings, and tail of a brownish 
ash ; bill and legs brown ; irides pale brown. Another, in similar 
plumage, was killed at Narford, near Swafham, on 9th January, 
1885; it had the tips of the primaries dirty white; bill deep 
yellow; irides paler brown than usual. 
