434 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



the tiny insects. I spent at least half an hour watching the Gulls 

 through my glasses, and there could be no mistaking tlieir move- 

 ments. Flying slowly round in the still atmosphere, every few 

 seconds one of these birds would snap at some invisible object, 

 frequently rising or swerving in its flight to effect the capture, just 

 as a Swallow or Martin would do under similar conditions. — Colling- 

 wooD Ingeam (Westgate-on-Sea). 



Eared Grebe in Worcestershire. — On Oct. 9th an Eared Grebe 

 (PocUcipes nigricoUis) was seen by an angler in the canal at Stoke, 

 near Droitwich, to be in difficulties amongst the water-plants at the 

 side of the canal, and he secured it by the help of a landing-net. 

 Next day he took it to Messrs. Spicer & Sons, Birmingham, from 

 whom I subsequently acquired it. It was found to have been suffering 

 from recent gunshot wounds, which doubtless accounted for its easy 

 capture. It is a female, and, I believe, immature, and small, but, as 

 it was already set up before I saw it, I do not know the length. 

 Other measurements are : wing, 4-67 in. ; tarsus, 144 in. ; culmen, 

 0'75 in. The stomach was quite full, and contained. Grebe-like, a 

 number of its own breast-feathers, a few tiny pebbles, two or three 

 univalve shells, a quantity of remains of coleopterous insects, and a 

 red ant. These contents, after maceration in cold water for a few 

 minutes, produced a filtrate of a bright dark green colour, changing 

 in the course of a week to a dull cloudy yellow, due, so I am informed, 

 to the presence of biliary matter, and this, I think, must be correct, 

 for there was no other substance present likely to produce such 

 a colour, unless possibly the beetles might be responsible. The 

 colouring-matter in these, however, would not, I believe, be soluble 

 in cold water, though to what extent the digestive process might 

 affect them I do not know, and should be glad to be informed. 

 There is but scant information as to the visits of this species to 

 Worcestershire. Mr. F. Coburn stated in the ' Birmingham Daily 

 Mail,' Nov. 16th, 1907, that he had at different times seen two on 

 the canal reservoir at Bittel; whilst the late E. F. Tomes, in the 

 ' Victoria History,' mentions occurrences on the Avon, but as his 

 notices in the Worcestershire and Warwickshire Histories are almost 

 identical, it is doubtful to which county those occurrences belong, 

 though presumably he intended his readers to understand that he 

 had records for both counties ; data, however, are wanting. One 

 would hardly look for an Eared (or any other ) Grebe on the top of a 

 straw-stack, yet in ' The Naturalist ' for 1851, p. 21, an instance is 

 given of one that was observed in such a situation, and was knocked 



