VI 



the same season of the year. Two pairs of Eared Grebes are also 

 mentioned as having been killed, it would be interesting to know 

 how they were obtained ; the habits of these birds are such as 

 would render the obtaining of both " pairs" a matter of some diffi- 

 culty, as at this season the weeds on the ponds are getting up and 

 the birds dive so readily. I do not mean at all to doubt that the 

 birds were obtained, but to any one interested in the subject some 

 account of the way by which they were obtained, and whether 

 they were actually pairs, would be interesting. Kear Holy Is- 

 land, on the 18th of March, 1851, 1 shot an Eared Grebe from a 

 flock of five, with a considerable portion of its summer plumage 

 on ; the water was rough and the birds were at a considerable 

 distance ; when they rose, which they did readily, they were not 

 distinguishable from immature, or female long-tailed ducks, which 

 species was very numerous there at the time. I remember once 

 seeing a bird of this species alive in Leadenhall market in a basket 

 at this season, in perfect summer plumage, and a strange-looking 

 bird it certainly was, as it sat with its yellowish-reddish feathers 

 stuck out from the side of its face. It had been sent from the 

 Continent. I have little doubt but that we will shortly hear of 

 the appearance of some rare birds attracted by the flooded state 

 of the fens, some of the migratory Sandpipers often appearing on 

 their way to their breeding grounds later than this for instance 

 the Sanderling, Pigmy Curlew, Knot, Little Stint, Common God- 

 wit, Grey Plover. I have known all these birds killed in their 

 summer plumage, and evidently then on their way to their breed- 

 ing grounds sometimes even as late as the first week in June. 

 The reason one must suppose is that their breeding-ground has 

 probably been covered with water from melting snow, and after 

 the floods which have to subside, and the land has to dry suffi- 

 ently for them to build their nests on. I think your Caithness 

 correspondent will be found to be right respecting the number of 

 eggs of the Black Guillemot. The eggs are totally different in 

 shape, and in proportion to the size of the bird, from those of the 

 Guillemot and Kazor Bill. C.M.A. (Newcastle-upon-Tyne.) 



