C330 



Birds. 



possession they now are : the female is a fine specimen, in good plumage. The spotted 

 crake has also occurred in our fens in greater numbers than usual. — A. F. Sealy ; 

 70, Trumping ton Street, Cambridge. 



Black Swans Breeding at Carshalton. — My black swans hatched off a brood of six 

 cygnets on the 12th inst. The weather was intensely cold, and one morning, when 

 they were three or four days old, they were frozen into the ice ; but they did not in 

 any way suffer from it. This is the third time they have bred this year : the first time 

 was on the 29th of January, when they brought off eight cygnets ; the second time 

 was in the summer with seven, making a total of twenty-one young ones in ten months. 

 1 should be glad to know whether any of your correspondents can bring forward a 

 similar instance of fecundity in the black swan. — Samuel Gurney ; Carshalton, 

 November, 1858. 



The Pomarine Skua and other Sea Birds. — T was very well pleased to read Mr. 

 Eodd's note on the pomarine skua (Zool. 6267), as it somewhat confirms an idea of 

 mine, that the pomarine is far from being a scarce bird, and would readily be met with 

 anywhere on our southern coast, if looked for about the middle of October, when it is 

 making its migration southwards. This species is well known to the sailors at Torquay, 

 who call it and Richardson's bird " Irish lords why, I could not discover. A sail 

 on Torbay would well repay an ornithologist staying at Torquay in October. Let 

 him cross the bay towards Berry Head, and then beat about its mouth, and note what 

 he sees. Countless small flocks of" Mers (i.e. guillemots) will stud the waters all 

 round him, and will take but little heed of him as he passes among them. Kittiwakes, 

 old ones and the beautiful " tarrocks," will hover over him, and scan his boat with 

 curious eyes. He will see the " speckled divers "(i.e. the red and black-throated 

 divers) ever and anon rising to the surface and shaking their wings before they dive 

 down again into the blue deep after their prey : but these are wary birds and will not 

 easily be approached. I was somewhat struck by seeing a specimen of the red-throated 

 diver, in most perfect summer plumage, which was shot on the bay about the 15th of 

 last October: it was in magnificent plumage, and did not appear to have commenced 

 the autumn moult. But to return to the bay : look at that long line of dark-coloured 

 birds flying rapidly across the horizon seawards ; those are shags and cormorants, 

 either seeking some favourite fishing stations or hastening to their perching stations 

 on some distant cliffs. But what are those strange little birds which are flying rapidly 

 all over the bay, and never seem to rest, save when they souse for a moment into the 

 water, and, submerging themselves for a second or so, rise again into the air, 

 and skim as before hurriedly over the bay ? Those are the " mackerel corks," as the 

 sailors call them,— the little Manx shearwaters, — which have been attracted by the 

 shoals of small mackerel fry now swarming in the bay. You note how swift and 

 straight their flight is, and when you examine their wings you are struck by their 

 resemblance to those of a plover's, and mark the long tertiary feathers. Ever and anon 

 you see small flocks of the common scoter crossing the bay, and the little oceanic ducks 

 hurrying seaward by twos and threes. But what you justly consider the sight of all 

 is to watch the noble gannet make his strange downward plunge from a height in the 

 air into the sea below. What a time he stays underneath ! and how the spray flies as 

 he plunges in with the velocity of a cannon-ball ! The gannet is not easily shot, 

 unless he is so gorged with fish that he cannot fly ; he then becomes an easy victim, for 

 he cannot dive unless he can rise into the air, and gather momentum by precipitating 

 himself downwards. But you are watching those large dark birds which are bullying 

 and chasing the kittiwakes : the " Irish lords " are plying their nefarious trade ; you 



