464 *HE ZOOLOGIST. 



often seen at Teignmouth and all along the S.W. coast from Torquay to 

 Plymouth.— W. S. M. D'Ukban (Moorlands, Exmouth). 



Gadwall in Leicestershire.— I see that, in « The Zoologist ' for 1886, 

 Mr. Montagu Browne, in his ' List of Leicestershire Vertebrates,' omits 

 the Gadwall, Anas strepera, by which I gather that it was unknown to him 

 as a denizen of this county. I am happy to be able to add it to his list, 

 for a fine specimen of that duck was killed last week at Bitteswell Hall, 

 near Lutterworth. — H. T. Fkere (Burston Rectory, Diss). 



Change of Plumage in the Jackdaw.— When does the Jackdaw acquire 

 a black head ? Every winter I meet with examples in which the hood is 

 so dark as to be scarcely distinguishable from the rest of the plumage 

 unless the bird is closely examined. All very young Jackdaws which I 

 have seen had the grey hood well marked, though not so clearly defined as 

 in old birds, the rest of the body plumage being more or less grey. I can- 

 not recollect ever having met with dark-headed birds in North Wales, 

 though the Jackdaw is a very abundant species there. — G. H. Caton Haigh 

 (Great Grimsby). 



Pine Grosbeak in Nottinghamshire. — A beautiful specimen of this 

 rare British bird was shot on October 30th by Mr. Dixon, near Watnall, in 

 this county. It is a male bird, and in perfect plumage. When first seen 

 it was drinking beside a small pond, and on the approach of Mr. Dixon 

 (who was out shooting) it flew up into a tree, where he shot it. It is now 

 set up, and a more perfect specimen I never saw. This is a new species 

 for Notts, and, so far as I can make out, the sixth authenticated British 

 example which has been obtained. — J. Whitaker (Rainworth, Notts). 



Number of Eggs laid by the Shag. — With reference to the number 

 of eggs laid by the Shag and Cormorant, my idea was that locality had 

 something to do with this, as it apparently has in the case of the Lark and 

 Curlew, and, according to Mr. Young's experience, the Tawny Owl also, 

 though possibly, as he suggests, the food supply is an important factor in 

 the case. In reply to Mr. Ussher, as regards date, I have seen a nest of 

 young Cormorants (three), taken from the Rarana Stacks on May 31st. 

 They were apparently from eight to ten days old, which would fix the 

 laying about the middle of April. On this date there were nests of the 

 Shag and Cormorant — only a few of the latter — containing eggs in all 

 stages of incubation ; and I have also found nests of the Shag, with young, 

 nearly a week previous to this. Fresh eggs are often to be met with in the 

 middle of June, but these are, I think, invariably those of a second laying. 

 The Shag is so much the commoner bird than the Cormorant in Shetland, 

 that I believe there are five hundred of the former to one of the latter. — 

 Uauold Raeburn (Romford). 



