The Zoologist— February, I860. 591 



as the result of their temerity. On the 22nd an extraordinary flight of 

 golden plovers passed over the marsh district from south to north ; for 

 four hours, namely from 10 a. m. to 2 P. M., flock after flock came over ; 

 hardly had one lot disappeared in the north before another thin long 

 line appeared on the southern horizon, and so on with slight intermis- 

 sions during the four hours 1 was on the look out : occasionally a mob 

 of green plovers came on, all crowded together like a body of irregulars 

 following the line : all flew just out of shot, and 



" Vainly 

 I marked their distant flight to do them wrong," 



and only succeeded in bringing down a single bird. The golden 

 plovers flew with wonderful regularity, generally in a long single line, 

 broken here and there by the arrow-head formation these birds so 

 frequently use. Before a long period of severe weather, it is not 

 unusual to see great flights of plovers hour after hour, for nearly the 

 whole of a winter's day, crossing the Humber and proceeding southward, 

 but I never at this season saw them passing southward in such unusual 

 numbers. Query. — Were these birds attracted by the excessive floods 

 which at that period prevailed in the northern counties. 



Snow Bunting. — First observed November 7th. Since this period 

 have seen large flocks of these buntings feeding in the stubble-fields 

 near the Humber. 



Woodcocks. — Have this autumn been very plentiful on the east coast. 

 On comparing notes with my fellow sportsmen I find all agree in this 

 respect, that we have had a large and unusual arrival of woodcocks in 

 this neighbourhood. There was a considerable arrival as late as the 

 23rd of November. I remarked in my last notes the great disparity 

 in the weight of these birds on their first arrival. I lately weighed two 

 which exhibited this difference in a remarkable degree, one weighing 

 twelve ounces and the other only seven ounces. 



Bohemian Waxwing. — November 9th. Saw a fine male of this 

 species in the shop of a bird-preserver at Grimsby. It had been shot 

 three days previously on the coast, in the adjoining parish of 

 Cleethorpes, by a fisherman. 



Stonechat. — Saw a single bird, a female, in the marsh on the 17th, 

 and two on the 22nd of November. This bird is very rarely seen in 

 this neighbourhood except during the winter months. 



Chaffinch. — I lately passed along a hedge-row containing a large 

 flock of chaffinches, entirely consisting of females, with one exception, 

 one fine old cock bird. It is not unusual to see an old cock bird or 



