NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
219 
frequented, from early morning till often after sundown, by numbers of sea birds, 
chiefly gulls. When first we came they were quite unconcerned at our neighbour- 
hood, and we had the pleasure of watching them from quite close, until a visitor 
— to whom, I suppose, this appeared but “ poor sport ” — shot a few of them. Two 
or three mornings after this I was awakened very early by a perfect babel of bird 
voices, and on rising to look what was going on, I saw a multitude of sea gulls 
hovering and sweeping in short circles over something on the sand, but so closely 
were they clustered that I could not see what. Presently one gull left the 
fluttering group and sped away, to return a few minutes later with another, on 
which, the cluster dividing, I saw it had been gathered about a dead comrade. 
The bird that had, as I judge, been fetched, alighted beside the body, seemed to 
look at it for a moment or two, and then rose to hover round it, uttering strange, 
mournful little cries ; while the others, no longer on the wing, seemed to watch 
in sympathy. Soon all took flight but the mourning bird, that still swept round 
and round crying shrilly. At length it, too, winged away, but not entirely 
before it twice returned, after what had seemed a final leavetaking of its dead, 
hovering and plaining in the same way above it. Ere long the “creeping” 
tide had covered it. V. C. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Index. — If the lady who has undertaken the Index for the present volume 
will forward her address (which we have mislaid) w’e will forward an advance 
copy of the December number to be included in the same. 
R. H. L. — The explanation arrived too late for insertion in the September 
number, and it did not seem worth while to reopen the matter. 
H. N. M. and J. M. — We hope to publish the notes soon. 
F. C. — (l) Brachythecium mtabuhim. (2) Hyloco?»ium squarrosum. (3) 
Bryum capillare. (4) Hypnum purum. 
G. D. — .Such variation is not uncommon. 
Apprentice. — (1) Cudweed (Gnaphalium uliginosum). (2) Thiiidium 
tamariscinnm. (3) Festiua rigida. The book you name is useful, but Hooker’s 
Student's Flora (Macmillan, los. 6d.) is much better, although more technical. 
M. J. T. — The lichen is a Collema; the fungus a Clavaria, probably C. fas- 
cicnlata. The Guide to British Fungi, recommended in Nai'URE Notes for 
1893, p. 188, is the cheapest introduction. 
J. L. B. — (i) Ves, probably, but the slide is very bad. (2) Yes. (3) Ceci- 
domyia Uimariec. (4) The red bladder-like galls are made by a saw-fly, Nema- 
tus gallicola. 
E. G. — Bog Asphodel (Narthecium Ossiftaqum). You will find suitable 
books recommended in Nature Notes from time to time, e.g., Mr. Jameson’s 
“ Illustrated Guide to British .Mosses,” is noticed in Nature Notes for 1893, p. 
214 ; Mr. W. G. Smith’s “ Guide to British Fungi,” in the same volume, p. 188 ; 
Dr. Cooke’s “British Freshwater Algte” (Kegan Paul, 5s.), will probably meet 
your requirements under this head. 
C. M. M. — We are obliged to exclude lists, owing to the increasing demand 
upon our space. 
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