NOTES AND QUERIES. 475 



in a ploughed field on the side of St. Catherine's Hills this morning with 

 a large company of Starlings. — G. W. Smith (The College, Winchester). 



Eared Grebe in Kent and Stone Curlew in Sussex. — On Nov. 

 14th I had brought to me a male Eared Grebe (Podicipes n'ujricollis), shot 

 on the sea about a mile east of Dungeness, Kent; weight 9 oz. ; contents 

 of gizzard a little moss ; eyes yellow. Mr. G. Dowker, in his work on the 

 1 Birds of East Kent,' tabulates it as " very rare," but probably, as 

 Mr. Booth suggests in his ' Rough Notes,' it may perhaps be overlooked 

 on account of its similarity in winter plumage to the Sclavonian Grebe, 

 its slightly turned-up beak and white primaries, however, distinguishing it. 

 Mr. Bristow had a very light-coloured Stone Curlew sent to him on Nov. 

 14th, which had been caught at Battle, Sussex. A Storm Petrel was also 

 picked up alive on the sea-shore in front of the Grand Parade, St. Leonards, 

 on Nov. 13th. The adult Richardson's Skua recorded by me about a month 

 or two ago was a female (by dissection), and not a male, as I thought. The 

 Osprey brought to me in September I found, on going to see the spot 

 where it was shot while being mobbed by Rooks, was at Pett, about two 

 miles nearer Hastings than Winchelsea, though still close to the Military 

 Canal, which runs from there to Cliff End. — G. W. Bradshaw (Hastings). 



Purple Gallinule in Surrey. — Referring to Mr. Corbin's note on the 

 occurrence of a Purple Gallinule in Hampshire (p. 434), it may be of 

 interest to state, that as my nephew Mr. John Blackburne was walking by 

 the side of the lake at Bury Hill, near Dorking, in September, 1894, he 

 frequently saw a Purple Gallinule, Porphyrio ccerulea, standing on a 

 hillock by the lake busily preening its feathers. He never saw it on the 

 open water, but often disturbed it in the thickest part of the rushes or on 

 the bank, when it would fly over to a thick bed of reeds, just skimming the 

 surface of the water, and in February, 1895, he found it dead by the side 

 of the lake. On examining it he found no signs of its having been shot, 

 and it was in good plumage and condition. He sent it to be stuffed, and 

 afterwards brought it to show me. It is now in the possession of Miss 

 Barclay, of Bury Hill, Dorking. I think this is the fifth time a specimen of 

 this bird has been obtained in Britain. — Wm. Borrer (Cowfold, Horsham). 



Pomatorhine Skua and Peregrine Falcon in Sussex. — A Pomatorhine 

 Skua (Stercorarius pomatorhinus) was shot at Pett, near Hastings, at 

 the end of September last. The bird, a young male, was sent for 

 preservation to Messrs. Bristow and Sons, naturalists, of Silchester Road, 

 St. Leonards-on-Sea, who inform me that a Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) is 

 now in their hands, which was shot at Guestling, near Hastings, in the 

 last week of October. — Thomas Parkin (High Wickham, Hastings). 



Sabine's Gull in Cornwall. — It may interest your readers to know that 

 I lately procured, at the little fishing-village of Porthgwarra, in Cornwall, 



