NOTES AND QUERIES. 311 



a Dunlin, though had the season been winter one might have taken it 

 to be a Sanderling — possibly it was one, but, from some abnormality, 

 retaining the dress of winter. Again visited the shore between Lytham 

 and Naze, on May 16th, and saw several Whimbrels, which in all cases 

 were remarkably tame. On the extreme point of a small salt-marsh were 

 seven Mallards and one Wild Duck, all apparently asleep, except one 

 which watched me with neck erect for some time, until finally, on my 

 nearer approach, all took wing. — R. P. Harper (Scarborough). 



Nesting Habits of the White throat. — A curious and, so far as I am 

 aware, unique habit of the Whitethroat, Sylvia cinerea, has frequently come 

 under my notice, a habit of which 1 have not found any mention in any of 

 the works on Ornithology that I am conversant with. It is that the male 

 alone builds the nest without any assistance from his mate. It is some 

 years since I first observed this fact, and so many instances of it have since 

 come before me, that I no longer doubt that it is the invariable rule. 

 Last summer I discovered several Whitethroats' nests in process of con- 

 struction, and after careful watching, could not ascertain that the hen-bird 

 ever came near the nest until it was ready to receive eggs. The male was 

 always the sole builder, and worked constantly, particularly in the early 

 morning, visiting the nest on an average once every two or three minutes, 

 and leaving no doubt as to his sex by singing from time to time while at 

 his work — often even with building-material in his bill — and always when 

 leaving the nest after building, he would express his satisfaction by a 

 triumphant burst of warbling. The materials used, dry stems and blades of 

 grass, were nearly always gathered from one spot only, and that at a short 

 distance only from the nest, the bird returning always to the same place 

 for a fresh supply. I should like to know whether any reader of ' The 

 Zoologist ' has observed this peculiarity in the Whitethroat, or whether they 

 have found it mentioned in any work on Ornithology. — Allan Ellison 

 (Trinity College, Dublin). 



PISHES. 



Sting Ray at Penzance. — I have received a second specimen of the 

 Sting Ray, or Fire Flaire, Trigon pastinaca, Guv. It was caught in a trawl 

 in about twenty fathoms water, in Mount's Bay, on July 5th inst. The 

 only other specimen which I ever saw was one I captured in August, 1870 

 (see Zool. 1870, p. 2347). The present specimen is a small one; it 

 measured ;— Over all, 1 ft. 5f in. ; from tip of snout to insertion of tail, 

 7i in. ; from insertion of tail to the end of the " whip-string " (which I, of 

 course, must call the caudal-fin), 10£ in. ; from this insertion of the tail to 

 the well-marked origin of the sting, 3| in. ; from the origin of the sting to 

 the end of the caudal-fin, 6£iu.; the "sting," measured over all, If in. 

 (of which the free part measured 1£ in.); the extreme breadth across the 



