NOTES. 137 



I again stalked it, and put it up once more, and am 

 now perfectly certain that it was a Solitary Sandpiper 

 {Totanus solitarius). The first time I got near the bird I 

 saw that there were two of the same kind, but I was only 

 able to follow the one when they flew off. 



I am very well acquainted with the Common Sandpiper 

 {Totanus hypoleucus), having had ample opportunities of 

 watcliing it on the Tay in Scotland, in Devonshire on the 

 Tamar, occasionally at Woburn, and in innumerable other 

 places. Not only does the very dark plumage of Totanus 

 solitarius make it easy to distinguish from Totanus hypoleucus, 

 but the wing bar, which is so conspicuous in the latter bird 

 in flight, was absent. I may add that I have had several 

 opportunities of watching Wood-Sandpipers at close quarters 

 this summer, and on one occasion the Green Sandpiper. 



On July 14th there was a small flock of eight or ten 

 Sanderhngs, also on the Kentish coast. On July 18th their 

 numbers had greatly increased, as 1 flrst came across a party 

 of thirty-one, then another of thirteen, and later on as the 

 tide went out they were to be seen in small groups all along 

 the shore. Nearly all of them still retained their red throats. 

 On July 20th I saw a Curlew- Sandpiper with very red throat 

 and breast, and small parties of Whimbrel were occasionally 

 seen between the 13th and 21st. M. Bedfohd. 



[On going to press we learn that a Solitary Sandpiper was shot 

 at Littlestone on August 15th, and this seems confirmatory of 

 the Duchess of Bedford's most careful observations. Her 

 Grace is to be sincerely congratulated on having succeeded in 

 an identification of such difficulty. — Eds.] 



A HITHERTO UNRECORDED SPECIMEN OF THE 

 LEVANTINE SHEARWATER FROM KENT. 



During a visit to Canterbuiy in July last, in order to examine 

 the bird collection there, I found in the Hammond Collection, 

 which was bequeathed to the town in 1903, a specimen of a 

 Petrel which at once attracted my attention. After com- 

 paring it with the Manx Shearwaters in the same case, and 

 noting its points of difference, I consulted Dr. Godman's 

 " Monograph of the Petrels " on my return home. I have 

 not the slightest hesitation in pronouncing this bird to be a 

 Levantine Shearwater {Puffinus yelkouanus). 



The birds in the Hammond Collection are admirably housed 

 and cared for, but, hke those in almost every local museum 

 that I have seen, urgently require proper labelHng, and in 



