62 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiii. 



nesting on the same ground. There were three pairs next 

 year, and then the colony increased enormously till in 1916 

 Mr. C. Oldham reckoned there were at least 150 pairs of 

 Common Terns nesting there : he counted 126 nests with 

 eggs on 15th July. In 1917 I went over the ground myself 

 and found it almost deserted — only a few odd birds flying 

 about. A large military camp had been formed along the 

 foreshore, and the Terns (both species) were so constantly 

 disturbed that they deserted the locality almost entirely. 



H. E. Forrest. 



ICELAND GULLS IN THE ORKNEYS. 



Although the Iceland Gull {Larus leucopterus) is well known 

 to occur annually in the Orkneys, the following results of fairly 

 constant observation from July 1918 to February 1919 in 

 Scapa Flow may be worth recording. 



1. Oct. 28th and Nov. 9th, 1918, Scapa, N., an immature 

 bird assuming adult plumage, apparently the same individual 

 on both dates {cf. Vol. XII., p. 190). 



2. Dec. 2nd and 3rd, 1918, Scapa, S., apparently a bird 

 of the year. 



3. Jan. 6th, 1919, Scapa, N., a very pale immature bird 

 in company with two L. glaucus. 



4. Feb. 25th, 1919, Scapa, N., an immature bird. 

 During this period five L. glaucus were seen. 



J. M. Harrison. 



COLORATION OF THE SOFT PARTS OF SOME BIRDS. 



Accurate information on the colouring of the soft parts of 

 birds seems so scanty that the following notes made from 

 living or freshly killed specimens may be of interest : 



GoLDENEYE {Bucephula c. clangula), immature. (1)0 first 

 winter, Windermere, December i8th, 1917. Iris : yellowish- 

 brown. Bill : black, merging into a broad yellowish-brown 

 streak along the ridge of the upper mandible, nail black. 

 Feet : dull orange ; webs and back of leg dark brown. 

 (2) 2 first winter, Windermere, December 29th, 1917. Iris : 

 rather browner than in (i). Bill : yellow-brown, darker 

 at the base, nail black. Feet : yellower than in (i), and the 

 legs clouded with dusky. The bills of young duck and 

 drake Goldeneyes are described by Mr. J. G. Millais in his 

 Diving Ducks, Vol. I., pp. 83, 84, as slaty-blue and bluish- 

 black, respectively. 



Moor-Hen {Gallinula ch. chloropus). — Macgillivray (Vol. 

 IV., p. 548) says of this bird : " The iris which is very narrow, 



