NOTES AND QUERIES. 187 



about the chick, which alarmed it, and, to prevent any misadventure, it 

 was brought into the house at night and returned to its foster-parent the 

 following morning, wheu the two might be seen walking about side by side 

 in the closest bond of affection. As late as January 1st, when the foster- 

 chick was nearly full-grown, their devotedness the one for the other was as 

 intense as at first. Another incident in connection with a Herring Gull, 

 which was in a feral state, and not in quasi-captivity, as in the above 

 instance, occurred only last week, which is worth recording. My keeper, 

 who is an observant naturalist, noticed a Herring Gull unusually near his 

 house, and busily engaged at the remains of a rick, which had been opened 

 the previous day, and many mice (Mm sylvaticus) killed and thrown among 

 the surrounding straw. Being at a loss to know what the Gull was feeding 

 upon, he shot it, and found a mouse half down its throat, head first, and 

 three in its stomach, evidently just swallowed. These two instances show 

 how omnivorous the Herring Gull is, and that it is immaterial whether its 

 prey is dead or alive. — J. C. Mansel-Pleydell (Whatcombe, Blandford). 



Food of the Hawfinch. — A favourite summer food of the Hawfinch is 

 green peas ; the quantity they will consume is rather astonishing. In the 

 autumn I found in their stomachs the kernels of a small stone-fruit, which, 

 as the birds had been frequenting bullace trees, and the odour of prussic 

 acid was very strong, I have no doubt they obtained from that fruit. A 

 very favourite food seems to be the fruit of the yew, and I have also found 

 what I have not the slightest doubt were the kernels of the whitethorn. 

 Both the kernels of the bullace and whitethorn were divested of their hard 

 shells. — T. Southwell (Norwich). 



Food of the Hawfinch. — As regards Hawfinches feeding on kernels of 

 cherry and plum stones (referred to on page 117), I may note that some years 

 ago I had a pair of Hawfinches sent up from Norwich in the flesh. Upon 

 skinning them, the odour of prussic acid was very marked, and they were 

 found to be crammed with the undigested kernels of plum or damson 

 stones. This was late in autumn, and it should be borne in mind that the 

 stones had doubtless been exposed for weeks to the action of the weather, 

 and were, in consequence, more readily opened than they would have been 

 when fresh from the fruit. — A. B. Farn (Stone). 



Garganey in Co. Carlow. — In the ' Dublin Evening Telegraph ' of 

 March 30th a notice appeared to the effect that a specimen of the " Blue- 

 winged Teal" had been obtained in the County Carlow, and that it was on 

 view at the shop of Mr. Kant, naturalist. On the following day I visited 

 the premises, and was shown the bird. It proved to be a male Garganey, 

 Querquedula circia. As a specimen of the true Blue-winged Teal has never, 

 so far as I am aware, been obtained in Ireland, and as hereafter the notice 

 in question may be referred to as evidence of the bird's occurrence, I think 



