9614 Birds. 



I quote from ray note-book : — *' At last 1 have solved what always was 

 a mystery to me — the worn appearance of the lop of the upper man- 

 dible of tlie bill of the northern' and redthroated diver. Some strange 

 freak templed me to row to Salthill to calch some plaice, as a preliminary 

 to my dinner: having anchored near the Marlello Tower (it was high 

 water and ebbing), I fished for some hours, catching some dozen plaice 

 and sand-dabs. Tlie day was most beautiful, not a wrinkle on the 

 water, and a burning snn ; just the day for an idle naturalist like my- 

 self to smoke, dream, work problems, and feel too lazy to draw in my 

 line and unhook some small dabs that were kicking on it. Having 

 eaten my lunch, and smoked myself sleepy, T laid my head on the 

 gunwale of the boat, and, shading my eyes, watched the fish playing on 

 the bottom, for the tide had fallen greatly ; in fact, I was in about 

 twelve feet water. Presently the active dabs scuttled off in all 

 directions. My three prisoners being hooked could not follow their 

 example, so burrowed down flat into the sand, the top of the back 

 being only visible ; suddenly a large thing passed over the hooked 

 fish, and seemed to poise itself above them ; it was a redthroated 

 diver : suddenly he turned on his back, bringing his head under where 

 his feet had been, thrust the uj)per mandible under a fish and then 

 secured it ; the same was performed to another, the bird still on its 

 back. The fish did not move, believing, I suppose, like the ostrich, 

 that they were safe with their heads in the sand. With two jerks my 

 delicate hooks were snapped, but old John Manton corrected the 

 plunderer, and I shook five dabs from his throat. To look at the lip 

 of these birds, you caa see how admirably they are adapted for this 

 kind of diving." 



Flttniaye of the Razorbilled Auk (Alca torda). — Dr. Saxby (Zool. 

 9520) asks for information from the readers of the ' Zoologist' 

 respecting the white line from the bill to the eye of the razorbill. 

 From what experience I have had of the razorbill, I should say the 

 white line does not belong to the winter plumage of either young or 

 old, but is assumed in spring, often to some time before the head 

 moult takes place. However, the following from my uote-book may 

 perhaps interest Dr. Saxby and other readers of the 'Zoologist:' — 

 " The razorbill cannot be said to be a permanent resident of the waters 

 of Dublin Bay: it breeds in considerable numbers on the islands of 

 this county, as Lambay, Skerries, &c. Great numbers come into the 

 bay from September, but October and November. are the months for 

 this species. From early in December its numbers decrease, the birds 

 most probably following the shoals of herring-fry. From the end of 



