30 BRITISH BIRDS. 



shallows or feeding, but so far have seen no fighting. It's 

 " an ill wind that blows nobody any good," and the north- 

 east gale, that has interfered sadly with photography or 

 bird-watching, has had its compensation. 



E. L. Turner. 



BLACK-TAILED GOD WITS IN NORTH WALES. 



While studying the bird - life on Morchras Island, near 

 Barmouth, North Wales, on April 10th, 1909, I was delighted 

 to find four specimens of the Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa 

 belgica), feeding on the marsh after the tide had receded. Two 

 were in the reddish plumage of summer, the others in the 

 drabish grey of winter. As these were the first living 

 specimens I had had the good luck to see in Great Britain, I 

 studied them through my field-glasses for one hour. The birds 

 appeared to be quite oblivious of my presence, and fed 

 leisurely, keeping to one spot, which appeared to supply plenty 

 of food. The colour of the light portion of the bill was a pale 

 pink, and the upward curve of the mandible much more acute 

 in the living than dead specimens. In stretching out their 

 legs and wings the birds several times displayed the broad 

 black band across the tail. This bird must be regarded as 

 very rare for Wales. Mr. H. E. Forrest in the " Vertebrate 

 Fauna of North Wales," states that Mr. Rawlings of Barmouth 

 noted one on the estuary, but that gentleman declared that 

 he had never seen the Black-tailed Godwit ; whilst the 

 taxidermists at Aberystwith also said that they had never 

 seen this species. -^ ri 



1 F. COBURN. 



BLACK GUILLEMOT IN CORNWALL. 



On April 15th, 1909, some friends and myself, when starting 

 on a fishing expedition at the Lizard with Mr. R. H. Harris, 

 a keen local naturalist, saw a bird come several times into 

 the cove and finally settle on the rocks within twenty or thirty 

 yards of us. We then clearly identified it as a Black Guillemot 

 (Uria grylle). Mr. Harris told us that he had seen a similar 

 bird last year, but had not found out what it was. 



Herbert C. Griffith. 

 EARLY NESTING OF THE GREAT CRESTED 

 GREBE. 

 A few years ago I saw a pair of Great Crested Grebes 

 (Podicipes cristatus) piling up nesting material in a reed-bed on 

 one of the Cheshire meres on March 17th, and it is not unusual 

 to find fresh eggs in the second half of April, but until this 

 year I had never seen young birds in the first week of May. 

 At Weston Turville Reservoir, near Aylesbury, on May 2nd, 



