182 THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 



come right in by the window were entraped and could not escape 

 without help. I threw over a hundred through the window. 



Two specimens of the Grey Phalarope have recently been 

 secured in this neighbourhood. One I shot myself last week 

 while it was swimming on a pond some six miles inland among the 

 downs ; the other was shot the same day, also swimming on a horse 

 pond two miles nearer Littlehampton. These birds are sufficiently 

 rare to be of value to the collector, and both have been carefully 

 preserved. The peculiarity of this little bird is, that though belong- 

 ing to the order of Waders (Grallatorcs), and otherwise resembling 

 the Sandpipers in appearance and habits, it possesses the power 

 of swimming freely, its feet being partially webbed or lobated. 



Both specimens are in their winter plumage, and were per- 

 forming their annual migration south from their breeding places 

 in Iceland. It was a very unusual place to find them, as they 

 usually frequent the shores, and are sometimes met with in 

 northern latitudes far out at sea, occasionally even out of sight 

 of land. No doubt it was stress of weather that drove them for 

 shelter and rest into such unlikely spots. 1 



On 23rd May, at midnight, as I was preparing for bed, I 

 heard a tapping at the window where I sat with a light ; on its 

 being repeated I opened the sash and in flew a little bird, which 

 I found was a White-throat. I kept him all night and released 

 him in the morning. 



Last winter a Richardson's Skua was brought to me alive, 

 captured by a crew of French fishermen in whose boat it alighted. 



1 I once shot one at about the same time of year on the Lake of Neuchatel, in 

 .Switzerland, showing that they also travel by an overland route. — Note by Chas. 

 W. Graham. 



