38 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Surf Scoter in Ireland.—Mr. George Dunleavy, light-keeper of the 
Fastnet Rock Lighthouse, shot a duck on Nov. 5th in Crookhaven Harbour, 
Co. Cork, and forwarded it to me. It proves to be a Surf Scoter, Gidemia 
perspicillata, and I think a young male; but as I have been unable to 
compare it with any skin or stuffed specimen, it is possible it may be a 
female. The sex was not ascertained by the birdstuffer. Only two 
specimens have previously been recorded from Ireland :—one, an adult 
male, Belfast Bay, September 9th, 1846 (Thompson, vol. iii. p. 118). 
Another (sex not given), Clontarf, Co. Dublin, October, 1880 (Payne- 
Gallwey, ‘Fowler in Ireland,’ p. 113). The distinguishing features of 
the head in the various Scoters is well shown in Baird, Brewer, and 
Ridgeway’s ‘ North-American Birds. —Ricuarp M. Barrineton (Fassaroe, 
Bray, Co. Wicklow). 
Nesting of the Hobby in Scotland.—Mr. Howard Saunders, in his 
‘I]lustrated Manual of British Birds,’ writing of the Hobby, states (p. 337) 
that “in Scotland it .... has never been known to nest.” On the 29th 
August, 1887, I saw at Kinnaird House,—a small shooting belonging to 
the Duke of Athole on the right bank of the Tay, and about half-way 
between Dunkeld and Grandtully,—nailed to the keeper’s “larder,” an 
unfortunate old Hobby and three young ones nearly full-grown and fledged, 
but with the down still hanging on their heads and backs. ‘The keeper 
told me he had got them that summer from a nest in a tree on the other 
side of the river, and on my remarking that they were not likely to kill his 
game, he answered he knew they fed chiefly on insects, but still they were 
“harks,” and that was enough for him. ‘There were also several Tawny 
Owls, a few Kestrels, a Sparrowhawk, and a Raven among these and other 
victims.—Epwarp Newton (Lowestoft). 
Rare Birds in Gloucester and Somerset.—Mr. Charbonnier, a natu- © 
ralist, who lives here, showed me recently the following birds, which had 
been sent to him for preservation:—A female Sand Grouse, which had 
been shot at Hambrook, in Gloucestershire, some time in the month of 
June last. I could not ascertain whether it had appeared alone or 
in company with others of its congeners. A Little Gull, procured at 
Clevedon about the end of Octuber or beginuing of November, in 
immature plumage, but in good condition. About the same time a 
female Hider Duck was shot on the reservoir of the Waterworks at 
Barrow, in Somersetshire, a few miles from hereex—Mancus S. C. Rickarps 
(12, West Mall, Clifton). 
Pectoral Sandpiper in Ireland. —A bird of this species (Zringa 
maculata, Vieillot) was obtained in the Dublin market in the middle of 
October last. Upon making enquiries, L was informed that it had been 
