7106 Birds, 



have heard of its occurrence in North Dorset, at Shaftesbury, and again in North- 

 amptonshire, near Northampton, as also in Surrey, at Claphara Park. These are all 

 additional localities to those mentioned in Dr. Kinahan's paper, aud as this charming 

 warbler is an object of interest to everybody, the fact of its being more generally 

 distributed than hitherto supposed will hardly be unacceptable for record. — A. R. Hogan ; 

 Pitton, near Salisbury, June 11, 1860. 



Occurrence of Richardson s Skua (Lestris Richardsonii) at Eastbourne. — A beautiful 

 male specimen of the above rare bird, in the most perfect adult plumage, was shot at 

 Langney Fort, Eastbourne, on Wednesday, June 6th, by a man named Ward, and 

 which is in my possession. It is exactly in the same state of plumage as in Morris's 

 plate, except that the legs are not " mottled," I have never seen, even in the British 

 Museum, one in such perfect plumage, those generally that have come under my notice 

 being birds of the first or second year ; in fact, as far as my own observation has gone, the 

 state of plumage that this bird is in is unique. Weight, II oz. Length, 19J inches. 

 Breadth from tip to tip of wings, 41 inches. Length of two middle tail-feathers beyond 

 the others, 3 inches. — John Dutton ; South Street, Eastbourne, June 16, 1860. 



Occurrence of Richardson^ s Skua at Kingsbridye. — 1 have to inform you that on the 

 29th of May there was brought to me a male specimen of Richardson's skua, which 

 was picked up dead in a field, since which, namely on the 6th of June, I received from 

 a friend a handsome specimen of Buffon's skua, which he had just shot in company 

 with another, which he supposed to be a female, in the Kingsbridge estuary. I find 

 very considerable differences existing between Richardson's and Buffon's skua; the 

 latter having the two middle tail-feathers nearly seven inches long, being nearly four 

 inches longer than the former, the bill being shorter and slighter ; the legs are shorter 

 and of a different colour, being black above the knee, from thence to the foot light 

 blue ; the webs and toes, which are smaller than in Richardson's, are quite black ; the 

 general appearance aud colour of the birds are quite different. — H. Nicholls,jun.; 

 Kingsbridge, June 13, 1860. 



Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) shot during the late gale. — I record the capture of 

 one of those fairy-like birds, the common tern. It was shot at Kettering, Northampton- 

 shire, on Monday, the 28th of May last, the day of one of the most violent wind storms 

 that has visited England for upwards of forty years; in fact it could be called little 

 short of a tornado : huge trees which braved the almost irresistible hurricane of the 

 28th of February were compelled to succumb ; the crops of fruit which were so 

 promising have sustained great damage. — S. P. Saville ; Jesus Terrace, Cambridge, 

 June 12, 1860. 



Note on the Carnivorous propensities of the Blackheaded Gull (Larus ridibundus). 

 — Two days since I visited Scoulton Mere in this county, where from three to four 

 thousand pairs of these gulls nest every year, of which interesting aud beautiful 

 colony a full description is given in ' Yarrell's British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 434. I 

 brought away with me a dead gull, which appeared to have been shot and to have 

 died after reaching its home. The stomach of this specimen was found on dissection 

 to contain the remains of two small birds, one of which was apparently a meadow 

 pipit and the other a willow wren, both being species which nest upon the ground, 

 and which might therefore have been pounced upon by the gull whilst silting on their 

 eggs. Judging from the remains of these small birds I believe them both to have 

 been adult. I was not previously aware that these gulls destroy birds, although I 

 knew that they frequently devour mice, and that when a corn-slack is removed from 



