220 .UISCELLANEA. 



Tlie Kittiwake, the Lesser Black-backed Gull, the Black-headed 

 and other Gulls, on the river. 



The Wheatear. — Several were seen about the garden and out- 

 houses for weeks together. One pair built a nest and reared 

 their young. The nest was found, after some search, in an 

 irregular heap of lumps of slag, brick, and sandstone, at the end 

 of a long irregular passage, the entrance to which was on the 

 south side of the heap, and the nest near the north side, situated 

 directly under a flat stone. The nest was large for the size of 

 the bird, and composed of small twigs and straws, and lined with 

 feathers of the common fowl. The heap of stones lay in a bit of 

 waste ground outside the garden wall, and not far from the stack- 

 yard and the poultry. The nest contained an addled egg, of a 

 very pale blue, sparsely scattered with small brown spots, chiefly 

 at the big end. The young, four or five in number, had flown 

 a day or two before the nest was taken. The nest and egg were 

 presented to the new Museum by Mr. Robsot, Miss Easton's 

 coachman. Another nest of the Wheatear, as I was informed, 

 was found about the same time on the Town Moor by Mr. John 

 Hancock, placed also under a flat stone. — D. Mnhleton, M.D. 



Note on the occurrence of Shrimps in the Tyne.- — Considerable 

 quantities of Shrimps are dredged from the river just below 

 Dent's Hole, both on the north and south sides, and are sent up 

 to Newcastle for sale during the greater part of the year. On 

 March 12th, 1884, some were got for me from Emmett, the 

 fisherman, opposite to Nest House. They were all of moderate 

 size ; six of the best weighed half an ounce. They must live 

 one half of their time in fresh and the other half in salt water. 

 I have seen them dredged for by men in a boat between the High 

 Level Bridge and the Skinner's Burn, on the south side of the 

 river, where there is sand ; and they have been caught as far up 

 the Tyne as Dunston Steamboat Landing; indeed, I am informed 

 that they have been taken a good deal farther up the river, and 

 in large numbers, at Blaydon, which is four miles above Tyne 

 Bridge and about thirteen miles from the sea. — D. JEmhleton, 

 M.D. 



