Zoological Notes, by Andrew Brotherston. 187 



not so much to be wondered at. Like most rapacious, and also 

 some other sorts of birds, the young of the Eagle, as soon as they 

 are able to shift for themselves, are expelled by their parents 

 from the district where they were reared. From the north or 

 west of Scotland, where are now to be found the only breeding 

 places of the Golden Eagle in this country, a few hours direct 

 flight would bring them to the Borders. 



Food of the Blackcock. — The crop of one which was found 

 dead — March 14th — in a plantation near Kelso, where it is sup- 

 posed to have met its death by flying against a tree, was full of 

 the leaves of Medicago lupuUna and Alchemilla arvensis. 



Moulting v. change in colour of feathees in head of Black- 

 headed Gull. — With regard to the change in colour of the head, 

 in the spring, of the Black-headed Gull, Yarrell observes : — "A 

 Gull in the collection at the Garden of the Zoological Society, 

 began to change colour, in the head, from white to dark brown, 

 on the 11th of March ; no feather was shed, and the change was 

 completed in five days." The same is quoted by Prof. Eymer 

 Jones in "Cassell's Book of Birds," and Mr Morris, in his 

 "British Birds," refers to the same occurrence, and says that 

 "the feathers are not shed, but the colour is changed," and 

 makes no remarks, the same as if it was an established fact. In 

 moulting the feathers are shed gradually, so that the black 

 feathers which replace the first shed white ones would be full 

 grown before the last had fallen, thus apparently shortening the 

 time in which the change would take place. That it is the result 

 of moulting — in some cases at least — I am thoroughly satisfied. 

 On the 15th of March, 1876, I examined the head of an adult 

 male, in which the change was nearly completed ; only a few 

 scattered white feathers were left, all of which were old and 

 easily detached — so much so, that excepting a few at the base of 

 the bill, they came off when skinning it. The black feathers 

 on the contrary were all young, new, and in various stages of 

 growth, some fully developed, others just appearing. The inside 

 of the skin was thickly dotted with the dark coloured roots of the 

 young feathers, thus exhibiting every appearance of a complete 

 moult. I examined several examples of the same species in 

 March, 1877, all of which shewed unmistakeable signs of 

 moulting on the head, and also over the rest of the body (except- 

 ing the large feathers). Besides the Black-headed Gulls (Zarus 



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