NOTES AND QUERIES. 179 



Dipper Singing during Frost. — The observation of the Rev. Murray 

 A. Mathew and Mr. Ussher on the Dipper singing during severe frost are 

 not new. Similar observations will be found in Thompson's ' Natural 

 History of Ireland ' (vol. i., p. 117) and in ' The Zoologist ' (vol. ii., 1814, 

 p. 450). In the ' Proceedings ' of the Dublin Natural History Society 

 (vol. i., p. 98 — 103) there is an interesting paper by Mr. G. H. Kinahau on 

 " The Songs of Birds," in which the author states that July is the only 

 month in which he has not heard the Dipper sing. The first time I ever 

 heard the Dipper was on December 1st, 1866. Not kuowiug then that 

 this bird is a winter songster I made a note of it. I again heard it on 

 January 10th, 1867, and ou the 18th of the same month. On February 

 4th, 1868, I find this entry in my note book — " I think the Water Ouzel 

 only sings in winter." That remark has been since corroborated, for I 

 have no recollection of ever having heard the Dipper in summer. 

 December, January, and February are the singing months of the Dipper ; 

 the harder the frost and the heavier the snow the more he sings, and 

 an observation which recorded the Dipper as singing on a hot day in 

 Juue or July would be far more extraordinary than any record of its 

 winter song. Dippers are common here. — Richard M. Barrington 

 (Fassaroe, Bray). 



[We have heard the Dipper sing in May in Northumberland, on the 

 Till near Wooler, and also during the first week of October at Llanberis 

 and Pont Aberglaslyn, in North Wales, but do not remember to have 

 heard its song during the summer months. But then it should be 

 observed we have seldom been in the haunts of the Dipper at that season 

 of the year. — Ed.] 



Sooty Shearwater in Norfolk. — On the 26th July, 1851, I obtained a 

 Shearwater which was taken alive at Lynn, and which was recorded in 

 ' The Zoologist ' for that year (pp. 3234 and 3279), as well as in Morris's 

 ' Naturalist ' (vol. i., p. 189), under the name of Puffinus cinereus. At the 

 suggestion of Mr. J. H. Gumey, juu., I borrowed this bird a short time 

 since from the Lynn Museum, and we examined it together. It is 

 certainly a young male (by dissection) of the Sooty Shearwater {Puffinus 

 griseus). — T. Southwell (Norwich). 



Nestling Grey Plover from the Orkneys,— I have long intended to 

 call attention to the fact that a young Grey Plover in down, from the 

 Orcades, is preserved in the Hope Collection at Oxford. Is this specimen 

 authenticated or otherwise ? — H. A. Macpherson (Carlisle). 



[We are not aware that the breeding of the Grey Plover in the Orkneys 

 has ever been ascertained or recorded. Of course the presence of a hind- 

 toe would place the identity of the species beyond doubt, but we should 

 like to know something of the history of the specimen. — Ed.] 



