148 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Long-tailed Ducks and Velvet Scoters at Hunstanton.— The un- 

 usual abundance of Long-tailed Ducks, which has been observed elsewhere 

 this winter, has extended to the shores of the Wash. On January 3rd I 

 received a young male of this species showing the white feathers on the top 

 of the head and on the scapulars, and on February 4th a second specimen, 

 also a young male. In a letter received to-day the correspondent to whom 

 I am indebted for them writes : — " You asked me if I could tell how many 

 " Long-tails " I have killed this season. I find the number brought home 

 up to the present date is twenty-seven, and I have shot quite ten or twelve 

 others that I did not get owing to wind and tide. There is one fine old 

 bird about the feeding ground, but up to the present time lie has not given 

 me a good shot; lie does look a lovely bird. 1 have seeu him several 

 times with some Velvet Scoters and an Eider; the latter was killed by 

 one of the boatmen about a month since. It was a young male bird. This 

 has been a remarkable season for the Black Ducks here, I should like to know 

 how many have been killed. I can account for 284 being brought home in 

 my boats. I think on an average we lose about three in every ten knocked 

 down. They do not appear to have decreased in numbers ; there are still 

 thousands here, but they do not decoy quite so well now as formerly." 

 — Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Suffolk). 



Food of the Hawfinch.— In your review of ' The Birds of Wiltshire ' 

 (p. 117) you ask if there is any satisfactory evidence to support the state- 

 ment (pp. 39 "and 199) that the Hawfinch feeds on the kernels of haws and 

 stone-fruits, plums, cherries, &c. ; I think that there can be no doubt of 

 the truth of the statement. On examining the ground under a hawthorn 

 bush, where I had seen one of these birds, T found a number of haws bitten 

 open. None of the pulp had been eaten, but the stones had been split and 

 the kernels extracted. Knowing how very hard these stones are, I 

 thought it wonderful that any bird should be able to crack them, and 

 I kept some of them, a sample of which I send you. In January, 1581, 

 Hawfinches were unusually abundant in this neighbourhood. I took from 

 the crop of a hen bird, which I shot, a number of kernels of cherry stones. 

 and also what appeared to be seeds out of fir-cones, but of this I could not 

 be sure. On the few other occasions on which I have examined the con- 

 tents of Hawfinch's crops, I have always found kernels of some kind. A 

 very observant keeper, who is well acquainted with these birds, told me 

 some years ago that he had seen them pick up damson-stones under the 

 trees and turn them round in their beaks until they got them " edgeways " 

 and then split them. He volunteered this statement without the subject 

 having been mentioned, as we had been discussing the nesting of the birds. 

 He added that they also feed on yew berries. I have recently seen a caged 

 Hawfinch which, her owner tells mc,is very fond of kernels of the haw, cherry, 

 &C, but she cannot crack them herself though she tries hard, turning them 



