NOTES. 27 



eighty yards from the shore enabled me to watch its move- 

 ments closely and take careful note of its plumage. It was, 

 however, difficult to determine beyond a doubt whether or 

 not the bird \\'as still immature, for wliile the crown, the sides, 

 and the back of the neck wei'e distinctly grey, and the front 

 of the neck down to the breast was black, the colour of the 

 feathers on its back, tail, and wings was not indicative of an 

 adult in full nuptial plumage. These parts of the body were 

 dark brown, and were not nearly so conspicuously barred 

 and speckled as are those of mature individuals ; indeed, 

 it was only when the bird half turned itself from me that I was 

 able to see the faint indications of tlie Avhite bars. The half 

 collar of white streaks could be detected only when the bird 

 was nearest to the shore. The Black-throated Diver is an 

 addition to the avifauna of the county. 



R. W. Jones. 



BIRDS IN NORFOLK IN 1909. 



In his " Ornithological Report for Norfolk " for 1909 {Zool., 

 1910, pp. 121-136) Mr. J. H. Gurney gives, as usual, much 

 interesting information. 



Mr. Gurney reports that during the end of December, 1908, 

 and January, 1909, Mr. F. Coburn receiv^ed from King's 

 L}Tin fourteen examples of Brent Geese, which he identified as 

 belonging to the American form Bernida hrenta nigricans 

 (LawTence). All the birds M'ere reported as shot in the Wash 

 —two on January 19th, 1909, and seven more on the 26th. 

 Mr. Coburn now considers that at all ages and seasons, and in 

 both sexes, the black or slaty-black under-parts are constant, 

 and that after the first plumage there is always a larger amount 

 of white on the neck ; he adds, however, that females are of 

 a paler slaty-black than males. There is no information as to 

 whence Mr. Coburn's material came to enable him to arrive 

 at this conclusion, which is, by the way, practically the same 

 as that expressed by M. S. Alpheraky {Geese of Eur. and Asia, 

 pp. 162-5). We should have liked more exact information 

 as to how these birds differed from the typical B. hrenta 

 {cf. Vol. II., p. 27). 



On January 29th, 1909, an Iceland Gull {L. leucopterus) 

 was shot near Yarmouth. 



On February 10th a Black-breasted Dipper, presumably 

 Cinclus cinclus {L.), was shot at Coltishall ; an interesting record 

 which would be made far more valuable were the bird 

 carefully compared and identified, so that we might know to 

 what geographical race it belonged. 



