150 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The male had practically ceased singing by June 9th, though I did 

 hear it for a moment on the 13th. — Eobeet Moeeis (Uckfield, Sussex). 



Status of Blackcap, Garden-Warbler, and Lesser Whitethroat. — 



Bedfordshire. — Throughout the whole of the county the Garden 

 Warbler outnumbers the Blackcap by about two pairs to one, and 

 the Lesser Whitethroat is about as common as the latter species. 



Shropshire. — I can only speak from personal experience of the 

 neighbourhood in which I live, and here the Garden-Warbler is even 

 commoner, numbering probably three pairs to one, the Lesser 

 Whitethroat again being about equal to the Blackcap. The dis- 

 tribution of our breeding birds in the British Islands is as yet very 

 imperfectly known, and it would be of very considerable scientific 

 value if a complete record, showing this distribution by means of 

 shaded maps in colour or otherwise, could be published. — J. Steele 

 Elliott (Dowles Manor, Shropshire). 



Waxwing in Suffolk. — A hen Waxwing (Amjpelis garrulus) was 

 picked up dead at Beyton on January 21st, and brought to me in the 

 flesh. It had certainly been shot at, but was in very good condition 

 when found, and is now in the Ipswich Museum. — Julian G. Tuck 

 (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk). 



The Little Owl Breeding in Somerset. — I see a note in the 

 ' Zoologist ' (ante, p. 112) from Mr. Sanley Lewis, of Wells, 

 Somerset, on the subject of the Little Owl (Athene noctua) breeding 

 in Somerset. This is not, as he thinks, the first dicovery of its 

 breeding in this county. The Little Owls have nested here close to 

 my house for the last four years, to my certain knowledge, and 

 possibly longer. So far they do not appear to have developed any 

 excessively predatory habits amongst young game in this part of the 

 country. The nests always contain a plentiful supply of young rats 

 and mice, and I have once found a Thrush. — H. L. Popham 

 (Hunstrete House, Pensford, near Bristol). 



Gannet Choked by a Gurnard. — I am indebted to Mr. John Ren- 

 wick for a rather curious photograph of a defunct Gannet, which was 

 taken by one of a geological party (Mr. N. G. Reid) on the shore at 

 Turnberry, in Ayrshire. The dead bird had met its death in a way 

 which, I was told when at Ailsa Craig, has happened on previous 

 occasions, viz. in trying to swallow a Gurnard (Trigla ?), whose 

 spinous dorsal fin had become wedged in its throat, with the result 

 that the Gannet, unable either to swallow the fish or get rid of it, 

 was starved. The Gurnard is a very common fish in British seas, 



