NOTES AND QUERIES. 235 



were described as being very fearless, allowing a near approach. On the 

 21st I watched a single bird feeding and walking about the dry sand above 

 high-water mark near Kilnsea. On the 22nd a flock of from half-a-dozen to 

 a dozen passed where I was standing within twenty-five yards, and as I walked 

 on the high-road between Easington and Patrington, on the 24th, a flock of 

 perhaps thirty crossed before me, flying in a northerly direction, having 

 somewhat the appearance between Golden Plovers and Rock Pigeons. 

 When flying, the note uttered was weak, and to me like "kilp, kilp"; 

 when on the ground they had the appearance of Tumbler Pigeons, at a 

 little distance, and had a habit of almost burying themselves in the dry, 

 hot sand, to which their colour so closely assimilates as to render them 

 difficult to be seen. In the case of the solitary bird seen near Kilnsea, 

 when by any chance I lost sight of it, I again discovered its position by the 

 frequent stoops made at it by the Lesser Terns, Sterna minuta, which 

 seemed not to like its intrusion near their little colony. On my return 

 to Scarborough, I heard of a flock of about forty being seen near Burniston, 

 four miles north of the town, out of which a female was shot. The crops 

 contained, in most cases, red and white clover-seed, and in the stomach 

 I found, in addition to clover-seed, small fragments of quartz ; some of those 

 shot in Holderness contained Indian corn and linseed, supposed to have 

 come ashore from a cargo wrecked near Hornsea. — R. P. Harper (10, 

 Seamer Road, Scarborough). 



Pallas's Sand Grouse near Norwich. — On May 24th I had the 

 pleasure of seeing a flock of about twenty-five Sand Grouse. While 

 6trolling across Household Heath, within a mile or so of the city, on the 

 afternoon of that day, my attention was drawn to some strange birds flying 

 quickly towards me, in a south-easterly direction. As they passed near 

 enough overhead to enable me to distinguish their pointed tails and the 

 dark patch on the under p trts, I at once recognised them as Pallas's Sand 

 Grouse. When first noticed they were flying in a somewhat scattered line, 

 but closed up together a little as they crossed the heath, uttering their 

 peculiar note, and seemed to drop as they disappeared over some rising 

 ground. In the hope of obtaining another sight of them, I followed in the 

 same direction, but saw no more of them, and up to the present (May 26th) 

 have not heard of their being seen again. — E. J. Eldred (Bank House, 

 Castle Meadow, Norwich). 



Redshank breeding near Harrogate. — These birds have again made 

 their appearance with us. For the last three years two pairs have nested 

 in a marshy field on the outskirts of the town. Last year I found both 

 nests, and I am happy to say the young from both got safely away. This 

 year two pairs (probably the same birds) have again taken up their abode in 

 the same field. — Riley Fortune (Harrogate). 



