2652 Birds. 



and sunny, more resembling August than October. — R. Wakefield; Lower Clapton, 

 November 5, 1849. 



Food of the Red Grouse (Tetrao Scoticus). — On opening the crop of a grouse, on 

 the 5th of November, I found it to contain an immense quantity of matter, composed 

 of the tender sprouts, buds and blossoms of the heath plant, and a few small leaves. 

 The whole, when taken from the crop and placed in a scale, weighed three ounces 

 good. The bird was shot, no doubt, while feeding : it was killed near Buxton, Der- 

 byshire. — /. M. Jones ; Montgomery, North Wales, November 8, 1849. 



Black Grouse (Tetrao Tetrix) in Devonshire. — -A correspondent speaks (Zool. 2352) 

 of the black grouse occurring in Devonshire and about Taunton as a circumstance 

 worthy of record. I need only mention that several gentlemen residing on the Quan- 

 tock and Blackdown ranges, within five miles of this town, have large numbers 

 breeding on the waste parts of their estates, the poaching only of which, I apprehend, 

 supplies our market. — W. D. Crotch; Taunton, Somerset, October 20, 1849. 



Packing of Partridges. — A correspondent (Zool. 2352) mentions his having met 

 with a pack of partridges, about forty in number, which were very wild, &c. Now 

 really, were it not that the writer, as an M.D., cannot be supposed to devote any 

 large portion of his time to shooting, this would be unpardonable : this packing of 

 birds is of constant occurrence in the winter months, especially where the country is 

 wild and open, as every sportsman will avow. — Id. 



Power of producing a White Chick. — During the last summer I spent a few days 

 in Norfolk, and there I heard of a lady who asserts that she has the power of pro- 

 ducing, from any egg of any bird (if sent to her fresh), a perfectly white chick. If I 

 remember right, the stoiy is that her mother on her death-bed imparted this secret to 

 her, on condition of her never telling it to any one until she supposed herself to be 

 dying, and then only to tell one person on the same conditions. Should you wish 

 further information, I doubt not that you will obtain it in the neighbourhood of Diss. 

 — W. W. Cooper ; Rectory, West Rasen, November 5, 1849. 



Turnstone associating with Pigeons. — At Borobridge, in October last, an immature 

 turnstone (Strepsilas interpres) was shot out of a flock of pigeons, — certainly rather 

 curious companions for it, and at such a distance from the sea. — James C. Garth ; 

 Knaresborough, November 19, 1849. 



Occurrence of the Bimaculaled Duck (Anas glocitans) in the Fens of Lincolnshire. 

 — Mr. Gardener, the well-known naturalist of Oxford Street, has just shown me a 

 male specimen of this very rare duck, in a semi-adult state of plumage : the colour of 

 the head is particularly varied, the immature and adult feathers being mixed in about 

 equal proportions ; the legs are bright orange, as stated by Mr. Selby, and not bluish 

 gray, as in the female described (Zool. 2026) by Mr. W. R. Fisher; the bill is 

 blackish blue. The bird was captured in a decoy, was in the flesh, and perfectly 

 fresh. — E. Newman; December 1, 1849. 



Remarkable Act in a Duck. — A few years ago, when I was residing at Hornsey, I 

 placed nineteen ordinary ducks' eggs under a fine Muscovy duck, who sat with great 

 constancy. One day, after she had been off her nest, according to her daily wont, to 

 feed and bathe, before she went on again she carefully passed the point of her bill 

 over every egg, when, singling one of them out, she removed it in her bill to the dis- 

 tance of about three yards from the nest, broke it by a stroke of her bill, and then 

 returned to her duties of incubation perfectly contented: the egg proved to be 



