212 J. E. LITTLEBOT — KOTES ON BIRDS 



tained two eggs. Mr. R. "W. Brett, of Hertford, reports that the 

 "well-known note" of the curlew was heard in that neighbourhood 

 about Christmas Day, and that at other times it has been seen to 

 pass over. 



For the following notice, and for the four succeeding ones — on 

 the common tern, the lesser tern, the little auk, and the puffin — 

 our Society is indebted to Mr. John Cordeaux, of Ulceby, Lincoln- 

 shire, a prominent member of the ornithological committee of the 

 British Association. " Curlews are common on our east coast 

 during a great part of the year, and can only be considered scarce 

 in the height of summer. At low-tide they feed on the muddy 

 flats and great sand-wastes on the shore, retiring at flood to the 

 coast-marshes, and often going far inland to the larger open fields 

 on the Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Wolds. Large numbers, often 

 hundreds together, pass southwards along the coast in the autumn, 

 from the middle of July to the end of September, by a north to 

 south flight, but the greater number appear at this season to come 

 direct on to our coast by an east to west course — the general line 

 followed by our autumn immigrants. In foggy weather, or on 

 dark rainy nights, no other shore-bird is more frequently seen 

 dashing, in a lost and bewildered manner, around the lanterns of 

 the light-house and light-vessels. In the autumn of 1882 curlews 

 are recorded in the migration returns, from east-coast stations, as 

 having occurred at intervals, round the lanterns of light-houses, up 

 to the 13th of December. The curlew nests on the high moorlands 

 of Yorkshire and the north of England, and less frequently in the 

 south ; a few pairs also nest on Thorae Waste, near the upper 

 waters of the Humber. A limited number may always be found on 

 our coasts throughout the summer months." 



8. The Common Teen {Sterna fluviatilis). — Mr. E. P. Thompson, 

 of Elstree, informs me that he observed a common tern on the 

 Elstree Reservoir during the month of April, and that at other 

 times he has seen four or five together at the same place. Mr. W. 

 Norman reports that they are occasionally met with near Royston. 



" The common tern, a spring and autumn visitant to our east 

 coast, on its passage to and from its nesting quarters but far 

 more numerous always at the latter season, arrives about the last 

 week in April or early in May, and is always less commonly met 

 with than the far more numerous arctic tern — Sterna macrura. lu 

 stormy weather it ascends rivers, and occasionally occurs in waters 

 far inland, which is rarely the case with the arctic tern. It nests 

 annually on the Faroe Islands in company with the arctic tern, 

 but the latter exceed the so-called common species by about ten to 

 one. Both species leave their nesting-quarters in the autumn 

 together, about the last week in August, on their migration to 

 the south." 



9. The Little Tern {Sterna mimita). — Mr. Frederick N. Ford- 

 ham informs me that two little terns have been recently secured in 

 the neighbourhood of the River Cam, about a mile and a half from 

 Royston. Mr. "W. Norman reports that a dead specimen was 



