OCCASIONAL NOTES. 135 
Esquimaux CurLEW IN ABERDEENSHIRE —At a meeting of the 
Natural History Society of Glasgow, held on the 26th November last, 
Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown exhibited a specimen of the Esquimaux Curlew, 
Numenius borealis, which had been shot in Aberdeenshire on the 29th of 
the previous month of September. A note to Mr. Robert Mason, the 
Secretary of the Society, procured for me the following particulars from 
Mr. Sim, the taxidermist, of King Street, Aberdeen, to whom the specimen 
was sent for preservation:—‘ The bird was shot by Mr. Ramsay, of 
Staines, and proved to bea male, weighing eight ounces. The total length 
from tip of bill to end of tail was 134 inches; expanse of wings 253 inches ; 
bill 2 inches, wing from carpal joint 7% inches, and tarsus 13 inch. 
The stomach contained crowberries, some flies, and a caterpillar.” This 
rare straggler from America was first noticed as a visitor to the British 
Islands in 1855, when one was killed in Kincardineshire, as recorded by 
Mr. Longmuir (‘ Naturalist,’ 1855, p. 265), and subsequently in Yarrell’s 
‘History of British Birds’ (8rd ed., vol. ii., p. 620). Two were subse- 
quently shot in Suffolk, as noticed by Mr. Hele in his ‘ Notes about 
Aldeburgh’ (p. 177), and a fourth, purchased in Dublin in the flesh, in 
October, 1870, is preserved in the collection of Sir Victor Brooke (see 
‘ Zoologist,’ 1870, p. 2408). The specimen now referred to therefore makes 
the fifth which has been procured in this country.—J. E. Harrine. 
Grouse Quitrine THE Moors 1n YorKsHirp.—A pair of Grouse were 
seen in a turnip-field on our farm early in February. This is the only instance 
of the kind that has occurred for a very long period, and seems to indicate an 
absence of food in their usual haunts. We are ten miles from the nearest 
grouse moor.—Watrer Stamper (Highfield House, Oswaldkirk, York). 
Wrens Roostine.—Noticing one evening several Wrens coming to 
roost in the ivy during the excessive cold of this winter, I went towards 
dusk to the spot, and there in a hole in some honeysuckle and ivy stems 
I found no less than fourteen of these little birds congregated together, no 
doubt for the purpose of keeping each other warm.—Hunry G. Tomutnson 
(The Woodlands, Burton-on-Trent). 
Currous Haunt ror a Snipe.—On the 24th December last a carpenter, 
in the village of Killashandra, on entering an old uninhabited house used 
occasionally by him as a workshop, was surprised to see a Snipe flying 
about. It was found to be rather thin, evidently having taken up its quarters 
there owing to the severity of the weather—W. J. Hammron (Castle 
Hamilton, Co. Cavan). 
Guiaucous Gut at ALDEBURGH.—A fine specimen of the Glaucous 
Gull was brought to me on January 25th. It was shot at Thorpe Mere, 
where it was feeding in company with a flock of Common Gulls.— 
F. M. Oaixvie (Sizewell, Leiston). 
