NOTES AND QUERIES. 469 



enough to shoot a nice specimen of the Wood Sandpiper, a rare bird in 

 this county, this being only the third authentic occurrence. I also saw 

 Green and Common Sandpipers and Ringed Plovers, besides a lot of Coots 

 and a few Tufted Ducks. — J. Whitaker (Rainworth, Mansfield). 



Ruddy Sheldrake on Romney Marsh. — A Ruddy Sheldrake was 

 killed on September 8th, by John Southerden, at the Midripps in Romney 

 Marsh, Kent, about twelve miles from Rye. It was brought, for preservation, 

 to Mr. Bristowe, naturalist, of Silchester Road, St. Leonards-on-Sea. T have 

 seen the bird. Bristowe informed me that it was a male, but the black band 

 round the neck is entirely absent, and it has the head of a light huff, which 

 all point to its being a female. Can it be an immature male ? — Thomas 

 Parkin (The Vicarage, Haltou, Hastings). 



Bittern, White-fronted Goose, and Black Tern in Berkshire.— I saw 

 this summer at Sir R. F. Sutton's, at Beuham Park, a Bittern obtained in 

 November, 1883, under rather singular circumstances. When shooting 

 the duck preserves at Kintbury, — about one hundred acres of reeds, willows, 

 and alders, with intersecting streams, close to the Keuuet, and called the 

 " Wilderness," — the Bittern rose from a thick bed of reeds and dashed in 

 the face of one of the beaters ; the man, alarmed for his eyes, which he 

 said the bird struck at, knocked it over with his stick, breaking its legs, 

 and then succeeded in capturing it. A fine old male White-fronted Goose 

 was shot in the same locality, by Sir R. F. Sutton, on December 24:th, 1879, 

 and more recently an immature Black Tern. — John Coedeaux (Great 

 Cotes, Ulceby). 



Black Pomatorhine Skua at Redcar. — One of my fisherman friends. 

 Kit Dobson, brought me a Pomatorhine Skua on October 4th, which he had 

 shot at sea off Redcar: it is the black melauistic variety, resembling those 

 first recorded by me as having been obtained here in October, 1879. The 

 plumage is sooty black on the back; breast a shade lighter; the neck is 

 rather moulty and thin of feathers, but the new ones appearing are very 

 deep black, and have no appearance of yellow, which I have noticed on one 

 or two dark birds. The state of the bill and the obtuse projecting tail- 

 feathers show that the bird is a mature specimen. Gannets have been 

 very plentiful off Redcar this season, young ones predominating, and a 

 considerable number were shot during September and the early part of 

 October. An adult Sandwich Tern was obtained in August. Mr. Fox 

 Chilton noticed the first Wigeon on Cowpen Marsh on August 28th, and 

 early in September he shot a Spotted Crake in Saltholme. Three Pigmy 

 Curlews were shot at the Tees mouth about the end of September. 

 I noticed the first Hooded Crow on October 5th, when a flight came from 

 seaward. Short-eared Owls, Woodcocks, and Goldcrests have been dropping 

 in during the past few days. Ducks have been passing almost daily for the 



