356 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
lights bewildered them, and they continued calling until their 
notes died away in the distance. The captured Scoter frequently 
repeated the note described, which, when uttered in alarm, is very 
like that of a newly-hatched chicken in distress, but more flute- 
like. : 
At Spurn, on the 31st May, I found eggs of the Lesser Tern. 
A colony of these elegant little birds resort to the sands here 
annually for breeding purposes, but in diminishing numbers, for 
they are sadly persecuted by idlers from the opposite Lincolnshire 
coast and by the few inhabitants at this “land’s end,” who collect 
their eggs for domestic use. An interesting find here on the 2nd 
June was a Ring Dotterel’s nest containing five eggs, all the 
laying of one bird, for, besides possessing in common a strong 
family likeness, they were of an uncommon yariety both as 
regards ground colour and markings. This is another species 
whose eggs afford food for the natives. 
During my visits to Spurn in June, I was much surprised to 
see about a score Turnstones in full summer plumage. These 
birds being still there on the 16th, I requested a person who lives 
in the district, and who is well up in the local birds, to inform me 
if they remained throughout the summer. The result of his 
observations was that he saw them almost daily up to the time of 
the arrival of the first autumnal immigration of this species, 
which oceurred on the 28th July. As the species does not breed 
there, these were either old barren birds or last year’s birds not 
breeding. I also noted a pair of Whimbrel and numerous Dunlin 
on the Humber muds during the first week in June. 
Mr. Thomas Bunker, of Goole, informs me that there is little 
doubt that the Short-eared Owl bred on the Goole moors, for a 
pair were observed there all through the summer, and some men 
employed in draining were swooped at by the old birds. On the 
21st June Mr. Harrison put up a Short-eared Owl at his feet in 
a rough grass field at Wilstrop. 
In the third week of July a nest of the Quail containing eggs 
was found at Boston Spa by mowers. One was picked up dead 
in the cutting of a new line of railway at Sandsend, near Whitby, 
about the same time. 
Swifts were unusually numerous on the coast during August. 
They ieft Spurn toa bird on the 28th of that month. A perfectly 
white Swallow was frequently observed at Wilstrop, and was 
