4124 Fishes. 



bird of the year. The plumage is generally obscure, and presents the characters of a 

 bird of the year ; the brilliant hues of blue are confined to the quill-feathers and tail, 

 and the rich brown on the dorsal feathers is only partially developed. This specimen, 

 now in the possession of Mr. Vingoe, corresponds exactly with the example brought 

 to me some years since, and reported at the time in the ' Zoologist.' — Edward Hearle 

 Rodd ; Penzance, October 17, 1853. 



Note on the Hooded Crow, (Corvus Cornix). — As a friend of mine was walking on 

 the sands near Cromer on the 24th ult., he observed a solitary hooded crow flying over 

 from the sea, evidently fatigued with a long passage. He fired at it, and saw it im- 

 mediately drop a small bird from its beak, which proved to be a chaffinch, with the 

 skull fractured. Would not this seem to show that the crow had fallen in with a flock 

 of chaffinches on the passage, and had secured one of his fellow-travellers for a meal 

 on its arrival? — Robert Birkbeck ; Keswick, November 4, 1853. 



Note on the Woodcock, (Scolopax rusticola). — This favourite little " possessor of 

 the long bill " has, in my opinion, made its appearance in this neighbourhood remark- 

 ably early, considering the season. A fiue specimen was shot upon Blagdon, by Mr. 

 Henville, on Friday the 14th instant: the " old people " say this portends a severe 

 winter. Several others have been shot since. The appearances generally have not 

 been observed here before the 24th instant ; but I remember, several years ago, hear- 

 ing of the occurrence of one so early as the 3rd of October. — John Garland ; Dor- 

 chester, October 31, 1853. 



Note on a White Variety of the Common Tern. — A tern, apparently a bird of this 

 year, and an accidental variety of the common species, was shot at Lowestoft on the 

 12th of August, which was remarkable for having the entire plumage of a pure snow- 

 white, except some minute horizontal ash-coloured lines between the nostrils and the 

 eyes, a very slight smoke-coloured tint covering the whole remainder of the head from 

 the eyes backwards, and a little tinge of gray on the quill-feathers of the wings. The 

 colouring of the irides, of the beak, and the feet resembled that of ordinary immature 

 specimens of the common tern. — J. H. Gurney ; Easton, Norfolk, October 21, 1853. 



Note on the occurrence of the Pectoral Sandpiper and Nutcracker near Yarmouth. 

 — The above two rare birds have been recently obtained in the neighbourhood of Yar- 

 mouth, the first on the 30ih of September, and the second about the 10th of October. 

 I had the opportunity of examining the sandpiper in the flesh ; it was a female, and 

 apparently a bird of the year : it was not fat, but in very fair condition. The sto- 

 mach contained some small seeds, and the remains of a few insects, but too mutilated 

 to be recognizable with clearness. — Id. 



Pike and Tench. — Mr. Slaney (Zool. 4020), alluding to the commonly received 

 opinion that the tench, being the physician of fish, is respected as such, and therefore 

 is not preyed upon by other species, relates, as something extraordinary, an instance 

 of a pike having seized a tench crossways, which was too large to be swallowed, and 

 swam about with it for a considerable time, carrying it between his jaws. This in- 

 stance goes far to prove that the beautiful theory about the pike not feeding upon tench 

 is a " vulgar error," as it most surely is ; for I have, before now, myself seen a fine 

 tench taken out of the stomach of a pike. Mr. Slaney, however, states that the in- 

 stance he records is " the only one he ever met with in which the tench was attacked 



