Birds— Reptiles. 2027 



Enquiry respecting the Characters which distinguish the Young of the Black-bached 

 Gull (Larus fuscus) from the Young of the Glaucous Gull (L. glaucus). — I shall feel 

 much obliged to any of the readers of the ' Zoologist ' who will point out a difference 

 whereby the young of the great black-backed gull may be distinguished from the 

 young of the glaucous gull. On examining a young gull, 27^ inches in length, and 

 comparing it carefully with the descriptions in Yarrell and Gould, I am totally una- 

 ble to decide to which of these two species it should be referred : indeed I may say 

 that in the adult birds I can find no difference but that of colour. — D. C. Burling- 

 ham ; Lynn, 1st mo. 28th, 1848. 



Occurrence of the Red-throated Diver (Colymbus septentrionalis) at Worcester. — 

 Since my last note, dated December 15th, 1847 (Zool. 1969), I am informed by a 

 gentleman, in whose accuracy I have entire confidence, that two more specimens of 

 the red-throated diver have been procured in the Severn, in this immediate locality. — 

 W. W. Cooper ; Claines, near Worcester, February 8, 1848. 



Occurrence of the Great Shearwater (Puffinus Anglorum) near Robin Hood's Bay. 

 — Through the attention of Mr. Graham, of York, I have been enabled to procure a 

 very fine specimen of the great shearwater, which was taken alive in a fishing-net, near 

 Robin Hood's Bay, in this county. It fell into the hands of a bird-stuffer at Picker- 

 ing, of whom Mr. Graham purchased it. — W. M. E. Milner ; Nunappleton, Tadcas- 

 ter, February 5, 1848. 



Notice of Ornithological Occurrences in Norfolk, for January, 1848. — Several more 

 specimens of the waxwing have been taken during this month, especially towards the 

 latter part of it, and chiefly in the vicinity of the coast. An adult male goosander 

 occurred at Yarmouth early in this month, for a notice of which we are indebted to 

 W. F. Wratislaw Bird, Esq. An adult male of the black-throated diver, in winter 

 plumage, was shot about the middle of the month, in the river Wen sum, at Taver- 

 ham, which, being nearly twenty miles in a straight line from the sea, is rather an 

 inland locality for this species. The occurrence of a pair of barnacle geese at Salt- 

 house, and the unusually early appearance of the red-necked grebe at Surlingham, on 

 the 26th instant, may also be mentioned. A white variety of the blue titmouse has 

 been observed at Northrepps, in company with other individuals of the usual colour : 

 It is not very common, we believe, for this species to be affected by such variations. — 

 J. H. Gurney, William R. Fisher; January, 1848. 



Frog at a great Elevation in Inverness-shire. — I found an adult specimen of the 

 frog (Rana temporaria), at the elevation of 2600 feet, on Mealfourvenie ; and near the 

 same spot a numerous progeny of tadpoles, in some black pools or tarns. Have these 

 reptiles ever been found at a greater elevation ? — Archibald Hepburn ; Whittingham, 

 1847. 



Snake in the Hole of a Sand Martin. — Our gamekeeper's boy was told to procure 

 some sand martin's eggs for my brother's collection. He put his hand into a hole, and 

 a large snake crawled out ; it had probably gone there to feed on the young birds. I 

 have seen one of these snakes when killed contain two frogs, the uppermost of which 



