NOTES. 167 



there was a grain of wheat. In one case only were both 

 oesophagus and stomach quite empty. 



From Eiders shot in the Firth of Forth I have obtained, 

 besides Helcion pcllucidum and Lacuna divaricata, many 

 broken mussel shells {Mytilus edulis), and a few Tellina tenuis. 



A variety of Sazicava rugosa, it is interesting to note, was 

 found by Fabricius in the crop of the King- Eider (Jeffreys' 

 British Conchology, Vol. III., p. 83). 



William Evans. 



FLOCKING OF THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 

 On August 2nd, 1908, I saw on a large inland lake in the 

 north-west of Ireland some sixty Red-breasted Mergansers 

 (Mergus serrator) collected together about the point of a 

 promontory. On at least one other occasion within a few days 

 of the above date I saw a pack of approximately the same 

 number about the point of an adjacent island ; they were 

 probably the same birds. Again on August 3rd, 1909, I saw 

 another pack in the same locality. On all these occasions the 

 weather was fine. I was unable to discern their sex, for I am 

 not sufficiently acquainted with the seasonal change of 

 plumage in the male to enable me to differentiate between the 

 sexes after he has assumed the "eclipse" plumage, which I 

 gather from Messrs. Ussher and Warren's " Birds of Ireland " 

 is some time in June. They, however, were probably males, 

 with perhaps a few barren females. Seebohm in his work on 

 " British Birds " (Vol. III., p. 630) states that " in stormy 

 weather in summer the Merganser seeks shelter in some 

 secluded creek or inlet. In these places numbers of birds 

 congregate, but as soon as the storm is over disperse again." 



Herbert Trevelyan. 



WOODCOCK REMOVING ITS EGGS. 

 With reference to Miss Turner's photographs and account of 

 the Water-Rail (pp. 65-68), an old keeper in Perthshire gave 

 me a very graphic description last spring of how a Woodcock 

 removed the eggs from a nest in which he had accidentally 

 smashed one egg. 



M. Bedford. 



BLACK-TAILED GODWITS IN YORKSHIRE AND 

 LINCOLNSHIRE. 



Exceptional numbers of the Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa 

 belgica) occurred on the north and south shores of the 

 Humber on September 3rd and 4th. One flock I saw 



