Birds, fyc. 2825 



gave them birth. But let it be observed, that the experiment of building in a place 

 subject to such a calamity was not repeated : there was no nest the following year : 

 experience had taught them wisdom. — William Allan; Bishop Auckland, April 15, 

 1850. 



Occurrence of the Night Heron (Ardea nycticorax) near Helston. — I received this 

 afternoon, from the Rev. Canon Rogers, of Penrose, near Helston, a specimen of this 

 bird, killed on his grounds. The number of occipital plumes varies from all the ex- 

 amples I have examined hitherto, in being four instead of three : they are, however, 

 only half the usual length, but in other respects the plumage is adult, although the 

 specimen itself is small; probably a female. — Edward Hearle Rodd; Penzance, April 

 29, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Gannet (Sula Bassana) near Bury St. Edmunds. — A gannet, in 

 the plumage of the second year, was killed at Culford, near Bury, in December, 

 1 844 : it was from some reason or other unable to fly, but made a stout resistance to 

 being caught. Another bird of the same species was seen in the neighbourhood a 

 few days after. A third individual, in the plumage of the first year, was shot on 

 Icklingham Heath, the beginning of last November : being only winged, it fiercely 

 attacked a dog which ran up to it, and which it would probably have mastered had it 

 been left to itself. It is rather singular that three specimens of a species of such 

 maritime habits as this should have occurred, in so short a space of time, so far inland 

 and within such a little distance of each other. — Alfred Newton ; Thetford, February 

 2, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Hoopoe (Upupa Epops) near Penzance. — I mention the occur- 

 rence of this bird for the purpose more particularly of recording the date of its arrival 

 than for its-rarity, as seldom a season passes without some examples being obtained 

 in this district. The bird now under notice was killed within three miles of this 

 place, on the 4th instant, and was observed a week before. — Edward Hearle Rodd ; 

 Penzance, April 29, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Masked Gull (Larus capistratus) on the Dart. — A specimen of 

 that rare bird, the masked gull, was shot on the river Dart, in December last. It 

 was an adult bird, in winter plumage, agreeing exactly with Mr. Yarrell's description. 

 It was preserved by Mr. Burt, of the Torquay Museum, who says that its dimensions 

 also agree exactly with those given by Mr. Yarrell on Mr. Heysham's authority 

 ('British Birds,' iii. 431), so that there can be no mistake as to the identity of this 

 bird, notwithstanding its resemblance — especially in the plumage of this season of 

 the year — to the black-headed gull. The sex of this bird was not ascertained. — 

 Alfred Neivton; Elveden Hall, Thetford, February 1, 1850. 



Singular Habits of Limax filans. — A short time since I noticed in a greenhouse, 

 where I grow a collection of the Cape species of Pelargonium, a small slug, which at 

 first I thought was hanging entangled on a cobweb. On a closer examination, how- 

 ever, I found that the slug was suspended by a thread of its own making, composed 

 of the slimy matter which covers the body in this class of animals, and that it was 

 gradually descending head foremost to some plants placed on a stand below. The 

 thread was no larger than a stout cobweb, and uniform in size, except close to the 



