NOTES. 169 



to shake the beak violently from side to side till the valves 

 are laid open by the fracture of the adductor muscles. 

 Another method is to turn the beak through a quarter of a 

 circle, either by walking round the victim, or turning the head 

 in the neck. In yet another, the head is lowered almost to 

 the ground, and the point of the bill is thrust between the 

 valves ; the bird then moves its head to the left whereby the 

 two valves are forced apart. 



Only about 9 per cent, of shells are opened through the 

 ventral borders, which may be accounted for by the fact that 

 this border is generally undermost. It is a noteworthy fact 

 indeed that these buried shellfish are found at all ; often they 

 are discovered when buried by a layer of sand or mud as much 

 as an inch in depth. In their search for this buried treasure, 

 the bill is used as a sort of divining rod, the ground being 

 tapped here and there, until a victim is found. 



Some 13 per cent, of shells are opened through their 

 posterior ends. Many buried shells are opened in this fashion. 

 Indeed, the author declares that this can be " the only route 

 to the interior of the buried shells, the long axes of which are 

 vertical." This statement, however, requires some qualifi- 

 cation, since he also contends that " more mussels are opened 

 by way of the ventral borders when buried than when exposed 

 to view." 



Finally, Mr. Dewar contends that he has " brought forward 

 observations which seem to prove that the Oyster-catcher, 

 far from being actuated by blind impulse, on the contrary 

 proceeds dehberately to remove certain structures (the 

 adductor muscles) which hinder the achievement of their 

 desires." It may be questioned whether this is not placing to 

 the credit of the Oyster-catcher a degree of intelligence which 

 it does not possess. 



KILLDEER PLOVER IN KENT. 



On April 21st, 1908, Mr. Bristow informed me that 

 he had seen the previous day three strange Waders 

 on one of the " fleets " in Romney Marsh, not far from 

 Lydd. He was not sure of their identity, but was 

 struck by their unusually long tails. The following 

 day all doubt was set at rest by the receipt of one of 

 them, which he at once brought to me in the flesh. It 

 was an adult specimen of the Killdeer Plover {JEgialitis 

 vocifera), and had been shot by a shepherd at the place 

 where the three were seen. The second was shot on 



