174 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. viii. 



AVOCET IN SUFFOLK. 



Although the Avocet {Becurvirostra avosetta) is reported 

 with fair regularity as a visitor to the Norfolk coast, it 

 is not often recorded for Suffolk though some of those 

 which visit Breydon could probably be claimed for Suffolk 

 as well as Norfolk. It may therefore be of interest to 

 note that I had the pleasure of watching one for some 

 time in a marsh by the sea near Walberswick, Suffolk, on 

 August 23rd, 1914. I was able to get within one hundred 

 yards of the bird and to watch it from behind a bank with 

 binoculars. It was a bird of the year, and considering this 

 was very wild. It kept apart from other waders feeding 

 in the same little marsh, and was most conspicuous both 

 when on the ground and in the air. H. F. Witherby. 



BAIRD'S SANDPIPER IN SUSSEX. 



I HAVE to record the occurrence of an example of Baird's 

 Sandpiper {Erolia hairdii), obtained at Rye Harbour, Sussex, 

 on September 23rd, 1914. I examined it in the flesh, and 

 it proved to be an adult male in very fine condition. It was 

 in comj)any with a very large number of waders, including 

 Turnstones, Knots, Dunlin, Sanderling, Redshank, etc., that 

 frequent the mud flats at this season. This is the fourth 

 British example. H. W. Ford-Lindsay. 



BLACK-HEADED GULLS AND RAZORBILLS. 



I HAVE recently noticed at Swanage that Black-headed Gulls 

 frequently collect round a group of Razorbills or Guillemots 

 fishing, and whenever one of the latter comes up to the 

 surface with a fish in its mouth, the Gulls immediately hustle 

 it. In order to see where the diving bird is coming to the 

 surface, one of the GuUs hovers. Kestrel-wise, above. 

 Apparently if the diving bird has got a fish it dives again 

 immediately it reaches the surface to avoid the Gull's 

 approach. Then all the Gulls get on the wing and keep a 

 look-out for its next appearance. If the diving bird has 

 not been successful it does not dive again instantaneously, 

 but stays awhile on the surface ; thus one can see Gulls 

 and divers on the water, apparently resting quite happily 

 together. I think it is only when the diver has been 

 successful in catching a fish that the Gulls hustle it, 



I have seen the same performance on three or four different 

 days. The diving birds on one occasion were certainly 

 Razorbills ; on other occasions they were too far out for me 

 to be quite certain. Frank Penrose. 



