NOTES. 295 



of the underparts. The black and white band across the 

 throat of the adult in summer ^^•as indicated by an interrupted 

 row of longitudinal black streaks, and the black and white 

 half-collar on each side of the neck by an irregular mottled 

 black and white area. The freshly moulted winter-plumage 

 of the inter-scapular region and back was blackish-grey, 

 each feather being indistinctly blotched with grey on either 

 side of the extremity. Some of the feathers of the old summer- 

 plumage were still retained in the back, and were somewhat 

 similar to the new winter-plumage, but the white spots 

 at the extremity were whiter and more distinct, though 

 not sharply defined like those of the adult. The lesser 

 and median \\ing-coverts still in the summer-plumage of 

 1907, were similarly spotted, and more or less like those 

 of the adult, but the longer innermost coverts overlying the 

 humerus were very different, being bordered along the 

 terminal half of either web with white. The feathers 

 covering the area above the femur had a hoary appearance, 

 being mottled white and black, and not clove-brown like 

 those of the adult at all seasons, or the young bird in icinter. 

 The freshly-moulted tail-feathers were black, distinctly tipped 

 \\\t\\ white. 



The White-billed Northern Diver was presented to the 

 British Museum by Mr. Abel Chapman, who killed it in 

 January, 1907, off the coast of Northumberland. The bird 

 was in winter-plumage, but most of the lesser and median 

 \\ing-coverts, and the feathers on the area over the femur, as 

 ^^•ell as some of those on the inter-scapular region, were freshly- 

 moulted, black with twin spots of white at the extremity. 

 It weighed 12| lbs. 



Few examples of this North Siberian species have from 

 time to time been procured off our coasts in winter, and 

 half-a-dozen records will be found in Saunders' " Manual," 

 most of which have probably been correctly identified. The 

 shape and size of their bill renders adults of this species fairly 

 easy to distinguish from C. glacialis, even in winter-plumage ; 

 but in immature birds the character of the bill is much less 

 marked, and mistakes may easily be made. 



W. R. Ogilvie-Grant. 



■^ -^ ^ 



Rare Birds on the Isle of May (Firth of Forth). — Miss 

 L. J. Rintoul and Miss E. V. Baxter, two very keen and 

 competent ornithologists, following Mr. Eagle Clarke's example, 

 have spent a month (September 9th — October 8th, 1907) in 

 bird-watching on an island. The Isle of May was the chosen 

 station, and the results were really remarkable, as the following 



