7648 Birds. 



instance of their breeding in lliis way ? I may add that ihey bad no slieller what- 

 ever. — Satmiel Gvrnei/ ; Carshalton, July 4, 1861. 



Occurrence of Ike Northern Diver in June. — On the 15lh of the present month 

 (June), when at Seaton, on the coast of Devon, I killed a great northern diver. Un- 

 fortunately the bird was in moult, and had but partially completed its summer dress. 

 The fact of this species remaining so late on our coast is, I think, worth recording. — 

 John Giitcombe ; Plymouth, June '24, 1861. 



Occurrence and Breeding of the Lesser Tern (Sterna minuta) at Spurn Point, York- 

 shire. — On a visit during the last week in May to Spurn Point, at the mouth of the 

 Humber, we found the above graceful and not very common species breeding on the 

 seaward side of the sandy neck of land that connects Spuin Lighthouse with the York- • 

 shire Coast, from forty to fifty pairs of these birds were hovering over a particular 

 spot, and betraying by notes of alarm the presence of their nests. We discovered 

 some half-dozen of the latter, all within the space of about five hundred yards along 

 the shore, being apparently thus placed more from a love of company than any peculi- 

 arity in the spot selected. The nests were mere cavities scratched in the sandy and 

 pebbly soil of the beach, and contained from one to three eggs, all fresh, proving, 

 together with the limited number of nests, that the breeding season had but just com- 

 menced. The eggs were all deposited within a few yards of high water mark, and 

 difiicult to detect at first glance from their similarity to the rounded stones scattered 

 about. We found several holes scratched out and ready for the reception of eggs, but 

 whether abandoned from some cause or awaiting their complement of eggs was Lard to 

 tell. We were informed that these birds never breed on the Humber side of the neck, 

 though the distance across is only about one hundred yards. The eggs correspond with 

 those figured in Mr. Hewitson's work (second edition). It may be well to add that a speci- 

 men was shot to identify the species beyond doubt. In the same locality, and in 

 several instances within a few yards of the nests of the above terns, the ring dotterel 

 (Charadrius hiaticula) were breeding. In nearly all their nests the eggs were more 

 or less incubated, in most instances considerably so, and in one case we were amused 

 by the sight of a recently hatched bird running before us with the surprising velocity 

 characteristic to this tribe, while the parent endeavoured to divert our attention in 

 their well-known interesting manner. A few pairs of shieldrakes (^Anas Tadorna) 

 were also observed, said to be breeding on the holes of an adjacent rabbit warren. — 

 A. Dobree, Hull. 



Kitliwake does not Breed in the Isle of Wight. — In reply to Mr. Hussey, con- 

 cerning the kittiwake breeding in the Isle of Wight (Zool. 7547), I beg to give the 

 result of my own observations during the seventeen years I have resided at Freshwater, 

 durin" vvhich time I have never misse<l visiting the cliffs in the breeding season, viz., 

 from May until autumn ; and I assert, fearless of contradiction, that during that time 

 the kittiwake has not bred here ; nor do I believe that it has done so for the last forty 

 years. I have made the closest inquiry of old inhabitants that I can depend upon, 

 but not one of them can remember ever seeing the kittiwake in summer, except in 

 very stormy weather. I shot a male in the breeding season of 1858, on a very stormy 

 day ; but this is the only specimen I have ever obtained in the summer. Although I 

 collect the eggs of various birds from the clifiFs every season, I have never obtained a 

 kittiwake's ; and men who have^been in the habit of taking eggs from the cliffs for 

 upwards of forty years do not know the egg. I know the lesser blackbacked gull 

 bred here in 1857, but this is the only instance to my knowledge ; in fact, the bird is 



