NOTES. 241 



bird flew past and alighted upon the water about thirty yards 

 away. It then shghtly lowered one wing, inclined its head 

 to that side, bobbed, or ducked, two or three times, and 

 turned partly around. I thought it was wounded, and so 

 did our retriever, who dashed in to get it, and disturbed it 

 before it completed the turning movement. The bird would 

 fly about tliirty yards and alight upon the water, swimming 

 easily and lightly, and made six or seven flights, alwaj^s within 

 gunshot, during nearly ten minutes. It twice more started 

 to turn and bob, causing the dog to rush at it, and once 

 allowed the dog to get within a yard before rising. The bird 

 was in a foot to fifteen inches of water. I was much struck 

 with the compact, neat, and graceful appearance of the bird, 

 while its tameness was in marked contrast to the wildness of 

 the various other kinds of Plovers we saw. It was blue-grey 

 above, and very pure white upon head and breast. Un- 

 fortunately I had not got my Goerz glasses with me, but I 

 noted its two most conspicuous markings — a black patch on 

 the nape of the neck extending partlj^ forward with spots or a 

 faint line, and, when flying, two rows, or one broad row, 

 of light feathers across the secondaries (I could not notice 

 whether the primaries were marked so) giving the appearance 

 almost as if this portion of the wing was cut out. 



R. C. Banks. 



[In his " List of Irish Birds " Mr. R. J. Ussher refers to 

 this species as an " irregular visitor in autumn and early 

 winter, chiefly in October and in bad weather." — H.F.W.] 



BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 



Though somewhat late to do so, it may be as well to place 

 on record the occurrence of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper 

 [Tringites rufescens) in Lincolnshire. 



I shot an example of this American species on the foreshore 

 at North Cotes on September 20th, 1906. Tlie bird singularly 

 resembled a Reeve both in appearance and flight, and but for 

 its small size I should have paid httle attention to it. 



It was by no means shy, and allowed me to approach it 

 within thirty yards on the open saltings. This is, I believe, 

 the first appearance of this species in the county. 



G. H. Caton Haigh. 



r SABINE'S GULL IN LINCOLNSHIRE. 



[ On September 28th last I shot an example of Sabine's Gull 

 [ {Xema sahinii) off Gramthorpe Haven. It was a young 

 I bird, in the plumage in which this species usually occurs in 

 this countrj^ It was sitting alone on a sandbank, though 



