PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 115 



part, at least, a mesoptyle plumage. In this the crown, nape, and sides of the 

 head are greyish brown, the upper part of the hind-neck white, forming a half- 

 collar, the free ends of which blend with the white of the fore-neck. The rest of 

 the hind-neck, interscapulars and scapulars are dark brown varying in intensity 

 in different individuals each feather having a margin of paler brown. The back 

 is pearl-grey, passing into white on the rump. The median and minor coverts 

 are dark brown, with paler brown margins : the marginals white : major coverts 

 pearl-grey, washed with brown at the tips and with a tendency to a dark slate- 

 coloured shaft-streak. Secondaries with a black patch in the distal half, leaving 

 a greyish white margin along the lower part of the patch. Primaries with the 

 terminal half black, and faint white tips to all but the three outermost ; basal 

 portion of the feather white. Primary major coverts white. Bastard quills white, 

 with a black patch margined with white at the tips. Tail white, with a broad 

 black terminal bar. The fore-neck and uppermost flank feathers buff coloured, 

 rest of under parts white. Down feathers are adherent to the tips of most of the 

 feathers of the upper parts at this stage, especially on the head, scapulars, rump, 

 and tail. Beak pinkish grey or purplish. Later the plumage of the adult in winter 

 is assumed, save that the minor coverts remain brown and the tail retains its black 

 bar. In the following spring and summer the immature birds may still be distin- 

 guished by the same tokens. To what extent they assume the brown hood at this 

 stage is still a matter for investigation, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. During the breeding season this species congregates in 

 colonies in marshy districts, often near the coast, but also occasionally far inland. 

 In the south of England there are colonies in Dorset near Poole, in Hampshire, 

 at Dungeness in Kent, near the Essex coast, while there is a large colony at 

 Scoulton Mere in Norfolk and another at Twigmoor in Lincolnshire. Several 

 colonies exist in Wales, the largest being near Lake Bala. Northward colonies exist 

 in Yorkshire, Northumberland, Durham, Walney Island, at Winmarleigh Moss near 

 Garstang in Lancashire, and in various localities in Cumberland, of which that at 

 Ravenglass is the best known. In Scotland it becomes more general, breeding 

 commonly on the lowland marshes and also in the hill tarns, but most numerously 

 in the Clyde, Forth, Tay, Solway, and Moray areas, though found throughout the 

 mainland and also in the Orkneys and Shetlands, but absent almost entirely from 

 the islands off the West Coast. In Ireland it is a common resident, breeding in 

 enormous colonies in some of the inland bogs, such as the Bog of the Ring, 

 Tullamore, and absent only from the eastern and southern counties and the 



