3798 The Zoologist — November, 1873. 



beating over the muds in the direction of ray wounded bird ; getting nearer 

 lie quickly espied it, and was on it in a moment, and I had the mortification 

 of seeing it carried off in his claws to the other side of the river. Only an 

 hour or so previously I had met with a half-eaten redshank on the wall, 

 which had no doubt shared the same fate as mine, and I subsequently 

 observed a kestrel hawking over the muds evidently searching for wounded 

 dunlins, &c., which being numerous here, doubtless formed a great portion 

 of his diet. 

 Reeve, — 12th. Immature bird on Thorpe Mere to-day. 

 Green Sandpiper. — 11th. Numerous along the ditches at the back of the 

 wall by the river Blythe, generally occurring singly, but I occasionally 

 observed a small party of four or five birds. 13th. Observed several in tlie 

 ditches by the banks of the river Aide, near Orford ; they are more nume- 

 rous here than at Southwold. 21st. Counted fourteen birds up the Blythe 

 about five o'clock this moraing. 



Curlew and Whimhrel. — 13th. Large flocks on the pasture lands about 

 Orford Ness ; they are, I believe, all birds of the year. 



Dunlin. — 20th. Two birds shot at Southwold to-day have commenced 

 their autumnal moult. 21st. To-day my brother shot a dunlin, which is 

 referable to the small race of that species. It was with a large flock, but 

 the others were apparently of the usual size. Mr. Stevenson has kindly 

 compai'ed this bird with those in his own collection, and finds it quite 

 agrees with them, but he tells me they vary in the length of their beaks, 

 inter se, in the same way as tbose of the larger race do. The measurements 

 of my bird are : beak, fifteen-si.\teenths of an inch ; tarsus, three-quarters of 

 an inch ; carpal joint to end of first quill-feather, three inches. The beak of 

 the smallest ordinary dunlin in my collection is fully one inch in length. 



Eazorlill. — 13th. Shot a bird of the year to-day swimming in the Aide, 

 about five miles from the mouth of the river ; it seemed exhausted, and made 

 no attempt to escape on our approach, though it was not in such bad condition 

 as might have been expected from meeting with it in such a locality. 

 Cormorant. — 20th. Two birds in Eastern Broad, near Southwold. 

 Little Grebe. — 19th. To-day we caught two young birds, about ten days 

 old, in a ditch at the back of the river waU, near Southwold : they swam 

 both above and under water with the greatest ease. Are not these very late 



birds ? 

 - Common and Lesser Tern. — 11th. ObseiTed several birds, chiefly imma- 

 ture, of the latter species frequently alight in the mud-flats up the river, 

 amongst the ringed plovers. 13th. Visited the extensive tract of shingle at 

 Orford Ness, where the common tern breeds numerously : many birds were 

 stiU in a partially downy state, and unable to fly strongly ; the head and 

 neck is the last part to assume feathers. After careful examination here on 

 this and some subsequent days I was unable to detect any arctic terns 

 amongst the common species. 



