150 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vm. 



SLENDER-BILLED CURLEW IN KENT. 



An example of the Slender-billed Curlew [Numenius 

 tenuirostris) was obtained at Jury's Gap, Kent, on September 

 10th, 1914, and I examined it in the flesh on the following 

 day. It proved to be an immature male. There have only 

 been three previous records for Great Britain, an immature 

 pair September 21st, 1910, and an adult male, September 

 23rd, 1910, all obtained in Kent (c/. Brit. B., Vol. V., p. 124). 



H. W. Ford -Lindsay. 



POMATORHINE SKUA IN WILTSHIRE. 



In Mr. Hony's paper on the " Birds of Wiltshire " (antea, 

 Vol. VII. , p. 283), he mentions a Skua of which I had caught 

 a passing glimpse in a farmhouse near Sherston. I have 

 since seen this bird, which is an immature Pomatorhine 

 Skua {Stercorarius pornarinus), and was shot there at 

 least thirty years ago. H. W. Robinson. 



STATUS OF LAND-RAIL. 

 In Yorkshire. 



In his Report on the Land-Rail Inquiry Mr. H. G. Alexander 

 states {antea, p. 88) : '' In the East Riding (of Yorkshire) 

 Land-Rails are still fairly plentiful on the Wolds." I wish I 

 could believe this to be true, but the evidence unfortunately 

 all points the other way. In 1913 I made the most careful 

 inquiries in the district extending roughly south of a line 

 drawn due east from Burdale in the centre of the highest 

 part of the Wolds to the sea, and westwards to the plain 

 of York, and all the evidence I obtained pointed to the fact 

 of their being almost extinct. This year the scarcity is 

 more pronounced than ever, and I do not believe that a 

 dozen pairs could be found in the above district in the East 

 Riding. I have been able to learn of two pairs in the 

 neighbourhood of Beverley, one near Hessle, one near Ellerker, 

 and one near Bishop Burton. In Holderness the answer 

 to all inquiries is that the bird has not been seen or heard. 

 Perhaps you could furnish me with the evidence upon which 

 Mr. Alexander's statement is based. E. W. Wade. 



[Mr. Wade sent in very full particulars of the status of the 

 Land-Rail in the Yorkshire Wolds, the only information 

 received from that part of the East Riding. I find that in 

 my first precis of the observations sent in, I summarised 

 part of this information in the words, " None since 1908," 



