NOTES AND QUERIES. 23 



[On this subject the reader may be referred to a valuable article entitled 

 " The Problem of the Soaring Bird," which was originally published in 

 'The American Naturalist' for 1885, and is reprinted in 'The Zoologist' 

 for 1886, pp. 54-67. When it is stated that the writer, Mr. J. Lancaster, 

 devoted five years to the study of the birds on the Gulf-coast of South 

 Florida (where soaring species were to be found in abundance), aud that 

 his daily observations were carried on sometimes (p. 60) for fourteen 

 consecutive hours at a stretch, some idea may be formed of the attention 

 which he must have paid to the subject, and of the consequent value of his 

 published remarks. — Ed.]. 



Sabine's Gull near Weymouth.— The autumn of 1893 was signalised 

 by the occurrence of several examples of Xema sabinii on the western 

 coasts of England. I have just had the pleasure of adding to the Carlisle 

 Museum an immature bird which was killed near Weymouth early in 

 November, 1893. It was shot by a Mr. Lee, and was examined while still 

 warm by Mr. S. H. Wallis, through whose kindness I was recently able to 

 purchase it. If, as I imagine, this specimen was not recorded at the time, 

 it may perhaps be as well to publish its occurrence before it is forgotteu. 

 — H. A. Macpherson (11, Victoria Place, Carlisle). 



Little Gull in Sussex. — Whilst walking on the beach near Winchelsea, 

 on December, 14th 1895, I met a gunner with an immature specimen of 

 Larus minutus, Pall., which had just been shot. During the winter of 

 1893—4 no fewer than eight of these beautiful birds were shot on this 

 coast, most of which I saw. Particulars will be found in the following list, 

 which I am able to supply through the kindness of Mr. Bristowe, of St. 

 Leonards, and Mr. Jeffery, of Hastings : — 



1. Immature male, Bexhill, Oct. 12th, 1893. 



2. Adult male, Hastings, Dec. 20th, 1893. 



3. Immature female, Hastings, Jan. 4th, 1894. 



4. Adult male, Bexhill, Jan. 5th, 1894. 



5. Immature female, Bexhill, Jan. 5th, 1894. 



6. Immature female, St. Leonards, Jan. 8th, 1894. 



7. Immature male, St. Leonards, Jan. 8th, 1894. 



8. Adult male, St. Leonards, Jan. 8th, 1894. 



It will be noticed that six of the birds were shot in the beginning of 

 January, and that, while the males were mostly adult, the females were all 

 immature.— W. C. J. Ruskin Butterfield (St. Leonards-on-Sea). 



Local Birds nesting in Perthshire. — With reference to Mr. Cordeaux's 

 notes recently published in the « Annals of Scottish Natural History,' it 

 may be of interest to state that I have once— but only once — obtained the 

 nest and eggs of the Garden Warbler in Perthshire. The site was a very 

 unusual one, viz. high up in a tall hawthorn hedgerow. Local dealers 



