312 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



taken the next morning to Mr. Lowne for preservation ; he, as before 

 stated, forwarded the skin to me the same evening. The weather being 

 very warm at the time, Mr. Lowne would not risk sending the bird in the 

 flesh ; hence it was that I saw only the skin, but I may mention that it 

 had all the appearance of having been very recently removed, and that 

 there were still many living parasites remaining on the feathers. Mr. Gurney 

 also saw the skin while it was in my possession. The sternum Mr. Lowne 

 sent to Professor Newton. The total length of the bird when in the flesh, 

 Mr. Lowne tells me, was eight inches, and its weight two and a quarter 

 ounces [?]. Mr. Knights was good enough to give me the first offer of the bird, 

 and through the liberality of some friends of the Norwich Museum I was 

 enabled to purchase it for that institution, and to send this first British 

 example for exhibition at the meeting of the Zoological Society, on the 

 17th of June last. In Mr. Dresser's figure of this species the tints of the 

 plumage are not quite so bright as in the freshly killed bird before me, and 

 the conspicuous black border below the chestnut pectoral band is wanting, 

 although it is mentioned in the verbal description ; the legs also are 

 coloured, and described as " ochreous-yellow " ; but in the Yarmouth bird 

 they were, when fresh, undoubtedly " greenish ochreous," as described in 

 the ' Ibis ' by Mr. Harting, a hue which Mr. Dresser states " is certainly 

 an error," but which in this case I can confirm. Mr. Harting's otherwise 

 excellent figure is much darker in colour than the Yarmouth specimen. In 

 neither of the figures referred to has the bird the appearance of standing 

 so high on the legs as in the example now recorded. I submitted the 

 parasites before mentioned to Dr. E. Piaget, who was kind enough to 

 inform me that they are a new species, for which he proposed the name of 

 Nirmus assimilis.—T. Southwell (Norwich). 



Breeding of the Woodcock in Ireland.— On July 14th I was informed 

 that there was a Nightjar's nest in the neighbourhood containing four eggs ! 

 As I was curious to see a Nightjar's nest with that number of eggs, I 

 determined to visit the place. My informant showed me the way, and, 

 arriving near it, pointed out the exact spot. I soon caught sight of the 

 large black eyes, not of a Nightjar, but of a Woodcock, crouching low 

 under a frond of bracken. Allowing me to approach within only a few 

 feet of it, it suddenly rose with a loud flutter, and disappeared with a rapid 

 zigzag flight. The nest contained four eggs. I send this note because 

 in all the text-books on British birds which I have, only incidental mention 

 is made of a second brood being reared, and, strange to say, all the 

 instances mentioned are recorded as having occurred in Ireland. Mr. Butler 

 (' British Birds' Eggs,' p. 143) mentions, under " Time of nidification," the 

 month of March only. Mr. Harting, in his most interesting article " On 

 some little-known habits of the Woodcock " (Zool. 1879, p. 439), mentions 

 the case of a bird carrying its young on the 2nd of August, 1871, at 



