Notes and queries. 42^ 



Ruddy Sheldrake in North Devon. — I am informed by Mr. Howe, of 

 Barnstaple, that three specimens of the Ruddy Sheldrake were killed on 

 the Taw, near Braunton, in June last, by a man called Petherick. The 

 date is of interest in connection with Mr. Ogilvie's paper in the last 

 number. — H. A. Evans (Westward Ho). 



Notes from Devonshire.— Several Quails have been killed ; one in 

 a stubble-field at Umberleigh, North Devon, on September 2nd. A friend 

 of mine shot one at Tedburn-Saint-Mary, near Exeter, on the 17th of that 

 month. A Spotted Crake, Porzana maruetta, was picked up on the railway 

 near Stoke, Exeter, on October 3rd, and a Hoopoe was shot at Moreton- 

 hampstead on the 4th. Several Teal and Wigeon were shot on the Exe 

 in the early part of October, but up to the present the weather has not 

 been severe enough for great numbers of wildfowl. I have been fortunate 

 in obtaining a pair of Grey Plovers, Squatarola helvetica, near Exeter; these 

 birds are very casual visitors to the south of this county, being more often 

 found in the North of Devon. — Wm. E. Helman-Pidsley (Fairbank House, 

 Polsloe Road, Exeter). 



[Several instances of the occurrence of the Spotted Crake in South Devon 

 are mentioned by Messrs. D'Urban and Mathew in their recently-published 

 work on the birds of the county, and the same may be said of the Hoopoe 

 and the Grey Plover. — Ed.] 



Manx Shearwater in Somersetshire. — I note (p. 412) that the Manx 

 Shearwater is included amongst some uncommon birds lately met with in 

 Somersetshire by Mr. Goldsmith. It may interest some of your readers to 

 learn that I shot one of these birds during the first week of September last 

 in the adjoining county of Devon at the further end of Woolacombe Sands. 

 The bird in question was close in shore, in company with a few gulls, 

 although the weather at the time was fair. — F. H. Carruthkrs Gould 

 (Buckhurst Hill, Essex). 



Nesting of the Quail in Devonshire. — During the past summer and 

 autumn Quails have been very plentiful in Devonshire, and several nests 

 have been found. — F. H. Carruthers Gould (Buckhurst Hill, Essex). 



Quail in Sussex.— At page 361, the Rev. Prebendary Gordon reports a 

 Quail killed by a reaping-machine near Midhurst. This was at Middlehurst, 

 in Sussex, close to where I live. Now a short time back we turned out 

 some Quails in fields close to our house, and as I have never seen or known 

 of any others, nor has anybody that I am aware of, I expect that this was 

 one of those which we turned out. I think it right to state this to correct 

 a false impression. — M. Burr (Middlehurst, Sussex). 



Marked Woodcocks. — In the spring of 1891 six young Woodcocks 

 were caught by the Duke of Northumberland's head-keeper in Hulne Park 



