354 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



again and again. The Woodcock utters two very different notes on the 

 wing ; one is a croaking note, and the other I may attempt to syllable 

 " chouwit" or " chouwee," though it is far too sharp to be imitated success- 

 fully by the human voice. An instance of extraordinary courage in this 

 defenceless bird was related to me by Richard Wolfe, a neighbouring game- 

 keeper, who formerly lived with me, and on whom I can rely. He was 

 walking with some beagles through plantations near Cappoquin, in May or 

 June last, when a Woodcock, which must have had young close at hand, 

 alighted in front of one of the dogs, ran towards him, and flapped her 

 wings in his face ; she then took flight, but on the dog going forward she 

 again came towards him, flapping at him with her wings as before. The 

 narrator of this incident, from his observations of Woodcocks of recent 

 years, is of opinion that they produce second or late broods. — R. J. Ussher 

 (Cappagh, Co. Waterford). 



The Velvet Scoter in Mayo in Summer. — On June 24th, when 

 visiting the Moyne channel and Killala Pool, I was surprised to see a pair 

 of Velvet Scoters, Oidemia fusca, in the midst of a flock of about fifty 

 Mergansers, Mergus serrator. There could be no mistaking the Scoters, 

 from their perfectly black plumage, and the white bar across the wing. 

 They were resting with the Mergansers in a little sheltered channel in the 

 sands at low-water, just off Killala Pool, and on being disturbed by my boat 

 they all flew out to the open bay. It was the first time I had had a good view 

 of Velvet Scoters on the wing, and with the aid of my glass I could notice 

 their large size in comparison with Scaups, and the intense blackness 

 of the plumage of the under parts, as well as the white bar across the wings, 

 which was most conspicuous. — Robert Warren (Moyview, Ballina). 



The Great Skua on Foula. — The state of matters shown by 

 Mr. Barrington in his article on the Great Skua (p. 297) is much to 

 be regretted by all true naturalists, and if this wholesale and merciless 

 persecution cannot be put a stop to, it will certainly result in the total 

 banishment of the species from the island. I have information showing 

 matters to be even worse than what Mr. Barrington states. My informant 

 writes: — "Not a single young bird got away last year, nor will this." It 

 is almost as bad at the Unst colony, a far smaller one than that on Foula, 

 and thus the very existence of the species as a British breeding bird is 

 seriously threatened. At a third locality where a few pairs have of late years 

 been trying to found a colony — probably driven from Foula — the bulk were 

 shot or driven away by " tourists armed with breech-loaders," and I believe 

 not a single young bird escaped. I should like to point out to Mr. Barrington 

 that the islands are not a kind of terra incognita, or " no man's land," and 

 that although, as he says, he only shot one bird, and his friend another, 

 far different versions of their conduct are current in the Shetlands. I do not 



