VOL. XIII.] NOTES. 221 



Large Numbers of Bramblings in Worcestershire. — 

 With reference to Mr. J. Steele Elliott's note on this subject 

 {antea, p. 1^4), Mr. H. G. Alexander writes that Bramblings 

 " have been ~ai3undant since the third week of October (the 

 first was noted on the 5th) in the south Birmingham district 

 (north Worcestershire.) " Mr. Thomas Smith writes that the 

 birds are also abundant in the Trent valley, and adds : " Mr. 

 Bruxner, of Rugeley, informs me that in his immediate 

 neighbourhood there are many where previously he has never 

 noticed them, and Mr. N. M. Brittain noted flocks of hundreds 

 in the neighbourhood of Stone and Hilderstone about the end 

 of October." Mr. Smith himself has not noticed more than 

 usual in north Staffordshire. 



Early Arrival of Redwings and Fieldfares. — Mr. 

 N. H. Foster states {Irish Nat., 1919, p. 107) that he saw six 

 Redwings {Turdus miisicus) on August 26th, 1919, at Hills- 

 borough, CO. Down. He also states that a flock of Fieldfares 

 {T. pilaris) was reported in the Northern Whig at Dunadry, 

 CO. Antrim, about September 7th, and M: Foster considers 

 that the identification was correct as the call-notes of the 

 birds were well described. 



Black-tailed Godwits in co. Mayo. — Miss M. Kirkwood 

 reports {Irish Nat., 1919, p. 108) that she shot a couple of 

 Limosa limosa early in September 1919, on the estuary of 

 the Moy. 



The British and Scandinavian Lesser Black-backed 

 Gulls. — Dr. Jonathan Dwight, in discussing {xiiik, 1919, 

 pp. 542-6) the nomenclature and differences of Larus fuscus 

 fiiscics and L. f. affmis, points out that in addition to the 

 colour of the mantles there is an interesting difference in 

 the wing-feathers of the two birds. In adults of L. f. fuscus 

 three or four of the outer primaries are black, the fifth usually 

 being the first to show a pattern, which is in the nature of a 

 grey wedge, while in L. f. affmis the grey wedges begin on 

 the first or second primaries and are more clearly defined. 

 Dr. Dwight illustrates the difference by means ot two black 

 and white plates. 



