NO.TES ANt> QUERIES. 2f 



second week in July. There was a marked increase in the number of birds 

 last summer. This I specially noticed, and my own impressions were 

 generally confirmed by the opinions of others. Mr. Nelson, of Redcar, 

 wrote me on the 15th June: — 'Gulls, Puffins, and Guillemots about as 

 plentiful as formerly. Eiders more numerous. Common and Arctic 

 Terns plentiful, but fewer eggs. Cormorants on the increase.' Mr. Cress- 

 well Cresswell wrote; — 'Far more birds than last year, and the large 

 increase was very apparent.' In a letter from Mr. Paynter, he says; — ' I 

 think there were twice as many Terns as usual. * * * * As regards the 

 Roseate Terns there were at least two pairs. * •♦• * There were also more 

 young Ring Dotterels than usual. At least one Sheldrake brought out a brood 

 on the Islands. * * * Cormorants were also plentiful. The Black-backed 

 Gulls as numerous as usual, and about the old number of Herring Gulls.' 

 Darling, the watcher on the Inner Fames, and his assistant, counted the 

 nests of the Sandwich Terns on or about the 13th of Jnne, and found that 

 220 pairs were sitting on eggs at that date. They also counted 72 Eider 

 Ducks' nests on the Kuoxes and Wideopens. White, the watcher on the 

 Outer Fames, informed me, at the end of the season, that 66 Eider Ducks' 

 nests were hatched off from the Islands under his charge, producing 253 

 young birds. Mr. Nelson counted 117 Kittiwakes' nests, nearly all with 

 young birds in them ; and Mr. Cuthbertson informed me there were 120 

 Cormorants' nests this year on the Megstone. I received very few 

 applications for leave to take eggs last summer. I allowed Mr. Gerrard, 

 President of the Wakefield Naturalists' Society, to take two eggs of each 

 species of bird. A similar collection was made by the watchers for the 

 Rev. C. F. Thorp, son of the owner of the Inner Fames ; and Mr. Pybus, 

 of Newcastle, had permission, very early in the season, to take a few 

 Lesser Black-backed Gulls' eggs. Last year, at the request of the 

 authorities, as mentioned in my report, I allowed some young birds to be 

 taken from the Islands for the purpose of being placed on the lake in 

 St. James's Park, London. The following extract from a letter I received 

 from Mr. Hilly, the bird-keeder there, may be thought interesting : — 'The 

 only birds alive now, of those brought from the Fame Islands, are the Cor- 

 morants, which are thriving. The Puffins all died during the first three 

 months. The Guillemots lived somewhat longer, the death of the last one 

 being the result of an accident. The one Kittiwake also died by an 

 accident. The Terns died during the severe frost, being apparently unable 

 to get about on the ice : their tails and wings collected the ice, I suppose 

 on account of their being pinioned and not being able to use their wings 

 freely.'" 



The Colour ef Palias's Shrike, Lanius major. — In the eighth 

 volume of the ' Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum ' (p. 238), 

 Dr. H. Gadow describes Lanius excubitor as being " pale whitish grey on 



