The Zoologist — December, 1873. 3801 



certainly not more than ten days old, plunged boldly into the sea, although 

 it was anything but smooth at the time, and they had great difficulty in 

 getting beyond the break of the waves. Both old birds subsequently settled 

 on the water close to them, and I watched the family party swimming along 

 ' shore with the tide till out of sight. A young bird I caught was a beautiful 

 little ball of down : head above dark brown, with a line of that colour 

 running down the back of the neck ; sides of head, throat, neck, chest and 

 stomach snowy white ; back dark brown and white, evenly distributed in 

 patches. AVhen T. handled it, it uttered shrill piping notes, resembling a 

 good deal the cry of the oystercatcher when its nest is threatened with 

 danger. 



Dunlin. — July 16. Observed several small parties, chiefly young birds, in 

 the sandy flats near the mouth of the Mersey, mostly very tame. By the 

 28th they had returned from their breeding quarters in force, and now asso- 

 ciate with the ringed plovers. 



Sanderlmgs. — July 31. Very numerous on our flats, occurring in even 

 larger flocks than the dunlins ; they like drier situations than those birds, 

 frequenting the sand-banks rather than the mud-flats. 



Lesser Tern. — July ] . Again visited the Point of Air, and found there 

 had been a large arrival of lesser terns since my visit on the 7th of June. 

 I found nine nests in about half-an-hour, which in nearly all cases were 

 paved with pieces of broken shells. Eggs generally two ; in some few 

 cases there was a single one, which was considerably incubated. I think it 

 probable that from the frequent robbing of nests here the birds get so 

 exhausted that they are unable at last to lay more than a single egg. They 

 vyere extremely bold and fearless, returning to their nests almost as soon as 

 my back was turned. — H. Durnford ; Waterloo, Liverpool, September 1 8, 

 1873. 



Oruithological Notes from Tamworth. — ' 



Wheatear. — This year we have had many more wheatears than usual. 



Pallas' Sand Grouse. — A friend of mine has a Pallas' sand grouse which 

 was shot at Swinfen, near here, in 1866, three years after the great flight 

 recorded in the ' Zoologist.' 



Late breeding of Martins. — A pair of house martins here are just bringing 

 off a nest of young ones ; they left the nest for the first time on the 10th 

 of October. A hen house sparrow seems to take as lively an interest in 

 their welfare as I do, for on most mornings she pays the nest a visit, flying 

 up against it and peeping in. — Egbert D. Hamel ; Tamworth, Oct. 13, 1873. 



Birds observed at St. Michaers-on-the-Wyre.— At St. Michael's-on-the- 

 Wyre, North Lancashire, during the past month or two, snipes visited us 

 in some abundance, though not nearly so plentiful as last year. The 

 heaviest we killed weighed four ounces and three-quarters, on the 8th of 

 September, a redder-plumageJ specimen than usual, though I think a real 



