NOTES AND QUERIES. 225 



the great majority of young Rooks are shot soon after they are fledged, 

 while those that escape the ordeal of Rook-shooting naturally fall the 

 easiest victims to farmers who are solicitous for the welfare of their potato- 

 and root-crops. Further, Rooks, except in the nesting-time, are shy and 

 difficult to watch, and the blackness of the beak is so small a characteristic 

 that it may fairly be urged that where one black-faced Rook is seen 

 between January and the end of April, very many escape observation. — 

 C. R. Gawen (Chetwyud Park, Newport, Salop). 



Nightingale in London. — Passing through the Green Park, on May 

 5th, about 2 p.m., with a friend we heard a Nightingale singiug away 

 beautifully, in the garden in front of Syduey House, in the thick bushes. 

 I do not know if it is a common occurrence, so send this communication 

 for what it may be worth.— J. C. Priestley (17, Hertford Street, W.). 



Tame Duck preying on Trout. — I was standing on a bridge across 

 a brook watching two tame Ducks, just below a small fall, eagerly gazing 

 down into the water and occasionally diving ; at last one stayed longer 

 under water than usual, appearing to struggle for something at the bottom, 

 and came up with the head and appendant viscera of a Trout, which could 

 not have belonged to a fish of less than six or seveu inches. The head was 

 so large that the Duck could not swallow it, and after it had been trying to 

 do so for five minutes I went away. The body of the fish must have 

 remained under its stone of refuge. Ducks are destructive to spawn, but 

 I never heard of their hunting fish before, and should like to know your 

 experience, or that of your readers on the subject. — E. L. Mitford 

 (Henfaes, Dolgelly). 



Birds at the Galloper Light-vessel. — The Galloper light-vessel is a 

 gcod post of observation. Mr. Thomas Sorrell, formerly in the Trinity 

 Service, and a practical naturalist, says that on one occasion, in the mouth 

 of November, when the tide of migration was still running strong, the 

 master sent him about seventy Golden-crested Wrens tied together on a 

 string, from which he selected five Firecrests, three of which he still has, 

 and about the identity of which there can be no doubt. Many common 

 birds also fly against this light, and though I have never had anything 

 rarer than a Shore Lark, no doubt good things often occur. I have received 

 sixty-five species of birds, or their wings, from floating-lights and light- 

 houses—a number which might be easily augmented. — J. H. Gurxey, jun. 

 (Keswick Hall, Norwich). 



Firecrest and Grey-headed Wagtail at Brighton.— A male Firecrest, 

 Regulus ignicapillus, was caught here on April 4th, whilst fluttering against 

 the window of a grocer's shop. The shop is in North Street, one of the 

 most crowded thoroughfares of this town. A Grey-headed Wagtail, 



