76 THE ZOOLOGIST, 



price of it, as her husband had not " set the figger." I should have 

 taken the liberty of making a sketch of it, only I had not wherewith 

 by me to do it. I therefore made another quick examination of it, but 

 had not the chance of again calling round to purchase it. — Arthur H. 

 Patterson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth). 



Sea-going Pigeons. — A remarkable instance of tame Pigeons making 

 a daily visit to a lightship has recently come under my notice. Some 

 eighteen months since a Pigeon, in hazy weather, made its appearance 

 on the St. Nicholas lightship, which is moored a mile and a half from 

 the town. It was fed, and, being unmolested, rested awhile, and 

 shortly flew back to the shore. Not long after it voluntarily made its 

 appearance on the vessel, was fed again, and once more returned. It 

 learned to recognize the tin in which some corn was kept, and would 

 soon come aboard when it saw the " signal" flashed by holding up the 

 tin above the bulwarks. Shortly after another bird, somewhat shyer, 

 ventured on the trip with it, and was made welcome ; and in time no 

 fewer than five birds made it a daily practice to honour the delighted 

 seamen with their presence. They do not seem all related, although 

 two may probably be young birds belonging to the first pair. They still 

 visit the ship, alighting first on the davit-guys, and then descending to 

 the deck to feed, after which they fly away home for the rest of the day. 

 Such an instance is, I think, unique, and worthy of record. — Arthur 

 H. Patterson (Ibis House, Great Yarmouth). 



Peculiar Habits of Gallinula chloropus. — In Kickmansworth, 

 during Christmas week, 1 noticed a Waterhen perched on an ivy- 

 covered tree in the churchyard, about twenty-five feet up, and busy 

 feeding on the ivy-berries, pecking vigorously at the bunches. As the 

 weather was quite open, and neither the ground nor the adjacent 

 waters were frost-bound, this unusual kind of food for a Waterhen 

 seems worth a note. — M. J. C. Meiklejohn (Tentsmuir, Northwood, 

 Middlesex). 



Knot inland in Cheshire. — On Dec. 30th, 1905, a gamekeeper, when 

 shooting Snipe on the borders of Marbury Mere, near Norwich, killed a 

 female Knot. The bird, which is now in the Grosvenor Museum, 

 Chester, was in very poor condition. Though Knots occur — sometimes 

 in large numbers — almost every winter in the Dee Estuary, they are 

 seldom met with inland in Cheshire ; I only know of one other occur- 

 rence — a bird which struck the telephone-wires in Bowdon on Oct. 24th, 

 1902 (Zool. 1902, p. 467). Knots do not as a rule venture far up the 

 Dee estuary, but on this same day some were killed out of a mixed 



