294 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. viii. 



first visit to the Orkney Islands, and I was able to obtain 

 several photographs of the performance. The bird would 

 revolve rapidly, beat the water with its wings, and often 

 duck its head, and as soon as the water had been disturbed, 

 would pick up minute objects from the surface. The bird 

 also pays great attention to cleaning its feathers, by ducking 

 its head and allowing the water to trickle down its back 

 in the same way as a Duck, but the two j)erformances are 

 quite distinct. Oliver G. Ptke. 



OCCASIONAL HIGH MORTALITY IN YOUNG 

 COMMON TERNS. 



I WAS interested to read the notes on this subject in your 

 issues of February and April, 1915. On 12th July, 1914, 

 I visited a colony of Common Terns near Formby, Lanes. 

 I found plenty of eggs, but only four young birds, which I 

 ringed. On 3rd August, 1914, I again visited the colony, 

 intending to ring some more yoimg, bvit to my surprise 

 found it deserted. I discovered the dead bodies of several 

 adults and one nestling, but apart from these saw no old 

 birds and found no trace of either young or eggs, except a 

 few egg shells. On enquiry I ascertained that there had been 

 a severe gale since my last visit. It is probable that the eggs 

 and newly-hatched young were overwhelmed by the sand, 

 which among these dunes, clothed only with sparse vegetation, 

 is always shifting. It is, of course, impossible that the whole 

 of the eggs could have been hatched out and the young flown 

 in the interval between 12th July and 3rd August. I may 

 say that I visited the same place on July 27th. 1913, and at 

 that date there were many birds, both adult and partly 

 fledged young, at the colony. E. W. Hendy. 



Chiffchaff in Winter. — Mr. P. E. B. Jourdain informs 

 us that he heard a Chiffchaff {Phylloscopns collyhita) at 

 Cambridge on January- 10th, 1915, and that it remained 

 in the neighbourhood for about a week after that date. 



