Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Iviii. (19 14), No. 9. 31 



December there are often numbers of birds on the water 

 by 2 p.m. This habit of roosting on Rostherne appears 

 to have originated within the last ten years, and less than 

 twenty years ago the bird was a rather uncommon visitor. 

 On April 17th, 1912, during a partial eclipse, a number of 

 Blackheads came in and settled down as if to roost ; they 

 remained for a short time and then returned to their 

 feeding grounds. 



The Common Gull 

 Laj'us canus camis Linnaeus. visits Rostherne in 



the winter, and a few 

 roost with the Blackheads. We have not noticed the bird 

 on the water later than the beginning of April, but it 

 returns towards the end of July or beginning of August. 

 In winter, when the mere is frozen, both Commons and 

 Blackheads will roost on the ice. 



Both the Herring and 



Lams argentatus argentatiis Lesser Black-backed 



Pontoppidan. Gulls are frequent 



Lariis fiiscus Linnaeus. visitors from time to 



time and sometimes 

 roost with the other gulls. The Herring Gull is, as a rule, 

 a winter visitor only, but the Lesser Black-backed Gull 

 frequently appears on migration in April and May and 

 in autumn. Immature or non-breeeding Lesser Black- 

 backs may be met with in summer. These birds, whose 

 backs are often very dark, appear to wander from mere 

 to mere in search of food ; we have noticed them often, 

 singly, or in twos or threes, in June and July. 



Between February i6th 

 Porzatia porzana (LinndLQWs). and April 6th, 191 2, 



we several times saw a 

 small Crake, presumably a Spotted Crake, which had 

 wintered on Rostherne. We never succeeded in ejetting: 



