NOTES AND QUERIES. 237 



gone when I looked for it again the following week. On May 5th 

 I visited Wembury Cliffs, the breeding-place of the Herring-Gulls. 

 I was sorry to see that the Raven's nest has been interfered with again. 

 A pair have bred there from time immemorial, but for the last several 

 years, to my knowledge, the young have either been taken or destroyed. 

 Last year they were shot in the nest, and left there. The year before 

 two of the young were sold to doctors in Plymouth, and now I see the 

 nest is deserted, although I saw the female sitting in it last March, 

 whilst the old male was flying about chasing the Jackdaws and Gulls 

 in his usual quarrelsome way. There is, however, I am glad to say, 

 no fear of the extinction of the Eaven in Devon and Cornwall for a 

 very long time to come, as they have many secure nesting-sites in both 

 counties. I walked back to Plymouth by the coast, and saw the first 

 flock of Whimbrel on the rocks near Bovisand. There were about fifteen 

 of them. — H. P. 0. Cleave (18, Leigham Street, The Hoe, Plymouth). 



Sanderling (Calidris arenaria) in Cheshire. — On May 26th there 

 was a Sanderling in nearly complete breeding dress on the mud at 

 Cotebrook mill-pond, near Tarporley. With it was a Einged Plover, a 

 bird of the small non-resident race. — Charles Oldham. 



Birds killed by Telegraph-wires near Yarmouth. — On April 23rd 

 an example of the Land-Eail or Corn-Crake (Crex pratensis) was picked 

 up on the New Eoad, between Yarmouth and Acle. It had evidently 

 been killed by striking the telegraph-wires the night previous. It was 

 in fine condition, and its plumage was uninjured. A Spotted Crake 

 (Porzana maruetta) also met with a similar accident by striking the 

 same wires on Aug. 27th, 1904. Both specimens are in my possession. 

 — B. Dye (60 Eow, Great Yarmouth). 



Sexual Selection. — My attention has been lately drawn to a descrip- 

 tion of the nuptial " dance " and song of the King Bird of Paradise 

 (Paradisea regia, also Cicinnurusregius), as given in a recent number of 

 the ' Ibis ' by Sir William Ingram, whose observations were made upon a 

 captive specimen in his possession. In this account the following occurs : 

 — " He bends down on the perch in the attitude of a fighting-cock, his 

 widely-opened bill showing distinctly the light apple-green colour of 

 the gullet, and sings the same gurgling notes, without once closing his 

 bill" — having, as I gather, previously sung them in the usual way. 

 This, as it appears to me, is strong confirmation of a view which 

 I believe I have been the first to bring forward, viz. that the bright 

 colouring of the buccal cavity in various birds — as e.g. the Shag, 

 Eazorbill, Guillemot, Kittiwake, &c. — taken in conjunction with the 

 display made of it during the season of nuptial activity, is only to be 



