174 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



ton, for critical examination, and the results printed in our local 

 paper (* The Eastern Daily Press,' April 15th), which are bo 

 interesting that I shall make no apology for quoting them (see 

 Table, p. 173) :— 



Judging from these facts, and from those which have already 

 been recorded by Mr. Kelso (Zool. 1910, p. 144), I am afraid 

 it must be recognized that Starlings are not the harmless 

 birds which they are usually considered to be. On the other 

 hand, one is reluctant to give so handsome a bird a bad name, 

 and it cannot be denied that their utility as destroyers of insects 

 is great. 



Mr. Hamond's dissections of his four Starlings show a diet of 

 forty-two grains of corn as against sixty-nine wireworms and 

 click-beetles (the former being the grub of the latter) ; the 

 balance therefore, in this case, was in favour of the Starlings. 



Swan x Goose Hybrid. 

 There is at present living, at a farmhouse near Cromer, a 

 hybrid Swan. This anomalous bird, which is the produce of a 

 male Mute Swan and a female domestic Goose, both of them 

 the property of Mrs. A. T. Eeynolds, of Beeston Priory, was 

 hatched in April, 1910. Another was hatched with it, which 

 unfortunately was subsequently killed ; there being no gander 

 on the place their parentage is apparently beyond dispute. As 

 will be seen from one of the photographs which Mrs. Eeynolds 

 has had taken of it, this hybrid is more like a Swan than a Goose 

 in shape, and its long neck, which at times it doubles up in 

 Swan fashion, contributes to the similarity. In colouring it 

 rather more resembles the Goose (cf. Plate III.). 



Blakeney Tern Settlement. 



The following memoranda on the prosperity of the Tern 

 Settlement at Blakeney have been supplied to Mr. Q. E. Gurney 

 by the watcher in charge, who considers 1910 to have been the 

 best season he ever had, as there was an extra quantity of 

 Terns of both sorts, and they did exceedingly well. He was 

 fortunately able to trap several rats and stoats : — 



Ap7il 26th. — Lesser Terns arrived. 



28th. — Common Terns arrived. 



