308 BRITISH BIRDS. 



referred to by the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain {supra, p. 274), 

 rests on rather slender evidence, viz. the recollections of 

 Charles Girdlestone, a sportsman-naturalist, who died in 1831 

 (see Fauna of Norfolk by the Rev. R. Lubbock, new ed., 1879, 

 pp. xvii and 53). Lubbock, writing in 1824, remarks that 

 forty years back Glossy Ibises " were, I am told, known to 

 the gunners about Lynn Regis, etc., by the appellation of 

 Black Curlews." This is on his friend Girdlestone's authority, 

 but it meets with no confirmation from other sources, and does 

 not deserve to be quoted as if it were an accepted fact, as 

 has been done by several writers. That Glossy Ibises were 

 somewhat less of a rarity in 1780 than they are now is not 

 improbable, as there were more marshes then, but I cannot 

 think that they could ever have been abundant enough to 

 have earned a local sobriquet. J. H. Gurney. 



TURNSTONE IN OXFORDSHIRE. 

 On January 22nd, 1912, Mr. Darby, the Oxford taxidermist? 

 showed me a Turnstone {Strepsilas inter pres) which had just 

 been killed opposite Christchurch Meadow, almost in the 

 town of Oxford. It was in immature plumage. 



F. A. MONCKTON. 



LITTLE STINTS IN WORCESTERSHIRE. 

 Five or six Little Stints {Tringa minuta) were seen in a damp 

 meadow on the outskirts of Malvern in company with several 

 Snipe. One bird was shot on February 6th, 1912, and given 

 to me; I have passed it on to the Worcester Museum. It 

 was in poor condition, and had doubtless experienced con- 

 siderable difficulty in obtaining suitable food here during the 

 hard frost. Norman G. Hadden. 



BLACK-TAILED GODWIT IN YORKSHIRE. 

 On February 3rd, 1912, my brother, Norman K. Duncan, 

 shot a Black-tailed Godwit {Limosa belgica) on the north 

 shore of the Humber, near Spurn. There were two birds 

 together. The specimen procured is an immature male in 

 mnter plumage, having the mantle and scapulars uniform 

 dark ashy-gre3\ The only pre\aous winter record for 

 Yorkshire that I can learn of was on December 9th, 1875 

 {see Birds of Yorks., I., p. 642). Stanley Duncan. 



BLACK-HEADED GULLS IN WORCESTERSHIRE. 

 On February 8th, 1912, I saw four Black-headed Gulls {Larus 

 ridibundus) at the Malvern sewage farm. " Gulls " were 

 reported to me at this time in considerable numbers. 



Norman G. Hadden. 



