NOTES AND QUERIES. 25 
ever unintentionally, I drew an inference from his words which was likely 
to mislead, I much regret it. What I wished to express was the opinion 
that his observations as worded in his article (pp. 373, 374) did not, as he 
claimed, suffice to establish as a fact that the Manx Shearwater feeds largely 
on shoals of fish. As to the power of the bill in this species, I would ask 
whether the Manx Shearwater is known to burrow, as does the Sand Martin, 
in strata harder than loose dry soil or vegetable mould, and, if this be so, 
whether it follows that the bill is strong quoad grasping struggling fish? In 
Mr. Warren's interesting and conclusive note (tom. cit. p- 470) there is one 
point which perhaps he would kindly clear up. I refer to the possibility 
that the sprats disgorged by his Shearwater may, as well as the entrails, 
have been thrown from one of the fishing-boats to which he alludes, and 
thereby have become offal, as I understand the word. It is remarkable that, 
_ with the thousands of fishes in the sea, the hundreds of Manx Shearwaters 
flying, as they must do, within a few feet of them, and the scores of human 
eyes which have watched with keen attention the movements of these birds, 
no one seems to have seen, or recorded that he has seen, a Manx Shear- 
water actually catch and swallow a fish.—C. R.-Gawen (Chetwynd Park, 
Newport, Salop). 
Little Gull in Glamorganshire.—I am glad to report another 
addition to the avifauna of this county, 7. é. the Little Gull, Larus minutus, 
an example of which was shot, on the 80th November last, near the Low 
Water Pier, at Cardiff. Mr. Storrie, the Curator of the Cardiff Museum, 
who informed me of the occurrence, states that it was one of a small flock 
of eight which had been seen about Penarth as well as near the pier- 
head at Cardiff. The example obtained is a male in full plumage, and 
Mr. Storrie has succeeded in securing it for the Cardiff Museum.—Drapy 
8. W. Nicuort (The Ham, Cowbridge). 
The Diving Powers of Gannets.—Can any of your readers furnish 
me with a few reliable particulars of the depth to which Gannets dive 
for their food? In Thompson's ‘ Natural History of Ireland’ are some 
¢xtraordinary accounts of the depth from which Gannets have been brought 
up in nets. He states that Gannets are « very commonly ” caught in 
nets sunk from “nine to twenty, but sometimes to the depth of thirty 
fathoms (not feet !), just as the fish (herrings) are lying.” He also mentions 
that one hundred and twenty-eight Gannets were caught in one net, and 
such was the buoyancy of their numbers that they raised the net, with its 
“sinkers and fish,” to the surface. Does the Gannet dive obliquely or 
perpendicularly ? Thompson states that “intelligent” fishermen regulate 
the depth of their nets according to the height from which they see the 
Gannets diving. Does the bird scize only one fish in its dive, or does it 
follow up the fish in the water and take several before coming to the 
surface ?—J. L. Cotrison-Moncey. 
