342 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
ment feeds upon fish, together with the intestines of fowls and 
other kitchen refuse.” Certain it is that when Turner was in 
Italy he saw white Egrets (“‘ Albardeolas” he calls them), which, 
he says, only differed from the ‘‘ Shovelard” of the English in 
lacking the broad bill of the Spoonbill. And secondly, Turner 
states that the rare white Herons which occurred in Britain not 
only joined company to the common blue Herons (Ardea cinerea), 
but actually bred with them, and produced offspring by their 
union. Here are his words:—‘‘ Visa est etiam alba (ardea) cum 
(not inter) cyanea apud Anglos nidulari, et prolem gignere. Quare 
ejusdem esse specier satis constat.” This last sentence disposes of 
the idea which Turner may himself have considered, that these 
white Herons represented one of the white species of Egrets, 
such as he had met with in Italy. Clearly, the white Herons 
which occurred in Britain must have been albinos or white 
varieties of the common bird, such as have been obtained in 
modern times. 
Gladly would we linger to discuss Turner’s numerous refer- 
ences to the bird-life of Merrie England, picturing in our mind’s 
eye the havoc which the blue “ Henharroer”’ (Circus cyaneus) 
wrought in well-stocked poultry-yards, the Osprey (Pandion 
haliaétus) purloining stock-fishes from the stews, and the Shel- 
drake (Tadorna cornuta) flighting round her nest hard by the 
tideway of the Thames; but present interests require us to in- 
dicate that Turner did not confine his attention to ornithology. 
We have hitherto failed to ascertain that Turner studied 
mammals like his brother Cantab, Dr. Caius; but both the 
courtly doctor of medicine and the militant divine were keenly 
interested in the fish fauna of the British Islands. It was 
Dr. Caius who first discovered that the Ruff (Acerina vulgaris) 
existed in the waters of an English river—the Norfolk Yare (the 
doctor was a Norfolk man). Yet the notes which Dr. Caius pub- 
lished himself, or sent direct to Gesner, however interesting, will 
hardly bear a safe comparison with the list of British Fishes 
which Gesner received from Turner. 
Turner was residing at Wissenburg when he drafted this 
rough catalogue, probably at a distance from his private memo- 
randa: he wrote itin 1557. Eleven years later he evinced his 
sustained interest in the subject by alluding in print to his 
