268 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vm. 



BLACK-THROATED DIVER IN MONMOUTHSHIRE. 



A Black-throated Diver (Gavia arctica) was found dead in 

 a garden in Newport on February 5th, 1915. I could not 

 find any mark of injury, but the bird was very thin. 



R. C. Banks. 



FEEDING HABIT OF RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 



The interesting note by Miss Haviland in the March number 

 of British Birds {antea, p. 243) on the feeding habit of the 

 above birds, recalls the observations of Frank M. Chapman, 

 published in Camps and Cruises of an Ornithologist^ 1908, 

 pp. 269-271. Mr. Chapman watched a number of Northern 

 and Red Phalaropes on a large j)ond in the city of Monterey 

 (California), and observed that about one-half of the birds were 

 spinning round and round in the most remarkable manner, 

 and he came to the same conclusion as Miss Haviland that 

 the revolving birds were feeding. " A rotary movement of 

 the shallow water was thus created, bringing to the surface 

 small forms of aquatic life which the Phalaropes eagerly 

 devoured, their slender bills darting rapidly two or three 

 times during each revolution" [I.e., p. 271). Dr. P. H. Bahr's 

 observations to the same effect were published the year 

 before those of Mr. Chapman. J. Wiglesworth. 



[As the Red-necked Phalarope goes through the spinning 

 movement in deep and rapidly-flowing water as well as in 

 shallow pools, it seems more probable that the movement 

 attracts the insect life from the surface into the eddy rather 

 than from the depths below. — F.C.R. J.] 



"WOODCOCK EATING CORN." CORRECTION. 



In the June 1914 issue of British Birds (a/itea, p. 21) I recorded, 

 on evidence which seemed at the time after careful inquiry, 

 prolonged at the instance of the Editor, to be entirely reliable, 

 that a Woodcock shot in January 1914 had its gullet full of 

 grains of wheat. This much was a fact, but I very much 

 regret to say that I have now discovered that my informant 

 was the victim of a practical joke and that the grain was 

 ]3ut down the Woodcock's throat after the bird was shot. 

 I can only apologise sincerely to the Editors and to the 

 readers of British Birds for being responsible for the 

 publication of this entirely misleading and erroneous 

 statement. J. H. Owen. 



