NOTES AND QUERIES. 279 



Marsh-Harrier in Kent. — On June 22nd I observed a Marsh- 

 Harrier {Circus ceniginosus) in Thanet. The bird was batthng vainly 

 against the stiff south-west wind that was blowing at the time. It 

 finally settled in an open field, where I managed to get a very fair 

 view of it, though it would not allow me to approach nearer than 

 eighty or one hundred yards. — Collingwood Ingeam (Sussex 

 Mansions, Westgate-on-Sea). 



A Pelican Fifty-two Years of Age. — A White Pelican (Pelecamts 

 onocrotalus) forty-one years of age, and then still living in the Zoolo- 

 gical Gardens at Eotterdam, is recorded in 'The Ibis' for 1899 

 (pp. 32, 38), on the authority of Dr. J. Biittikofer, Director of the 

 Gardens, and well known as a zoologist. Assuredly there are not a 

 great many instances of birds passing the age of fifty years which are 

 capable of verification, but this is one. The bird died, as I now learn 

 from Dr. Biittikofer, in November, 1907. As it had been received 

 from the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam in May, 1857, and entered 

 as being then an adult bird, it could not have been less than fifty-one 

 and a half years old, and probably was more. It was marked by an 

 easily recognizable incision in the membrane of one of its feet, and 

 Dr. Biittikofer considers any mistake of identity to be out of the 

 question. — J. H. Gueney (Keswick, Norwich). 



EDITOKIAL GLEANINGS. 



A ' Standard of Empiee ' cable, dated Cape Town, March 15th, 

 says : — " A sensation has been caused in Cape Town by a thrilling 

 encounter between a large Octopus and a number of men at the 

 docks. A native was standing on a step close to the water, when he 

 was suddenly seized by the Octopus. Three other natives were also 

 clutched by the long tentacles of the great creature, which strove to 

 drag them into the water, where they would have been completely at 

 its mercy. Help fortunately arrived in time to prevent that con- 

 tingency, and the Octopus was drawn out of the water. It retained 

 its grasp on the men, however, despite the endeavours that were 

 made to chop off its tentacles with spades. Only after a long conflict 

 was the Octopus finally despatched. The adventure is without pre- 

 cedent in the annals of Cape Town." 



