NOTES AND QUERIES. 469 



at Peasmore. In Oxfordshire flocks appeared at Bensington and Lower 

 Heyford in May (as reported in the ' Field ' and « Standard '), remaining in 

 the former locality until July, and in the latter until the early part of 

 October. The occurrence of others in July, in the district between 

 Chipping Norton and Burford, has been reported to me. — Oliver V. Aplin 

 (Bloxham, Banbury). 



Sand Grouse at London Poulterers. — My sister, who knows birds 

 well, informs me that on October 12th she saw and handled two Sand 

 Grouse at a poulterer's shop in Jermyn Street, which, however, she did not 

 consider to be in sufficiently good order to secure as specimens. She 

 describes them as having been in wretched condition : in fact, they seemed 

 to have been starved to death. The proprietor of the shop said that he 

 had received twelve in one consignment, and that the other ten had all been 

 taken by one purchaser, adding that they had been sent up from Norfolk. — 

 Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St, Edmunds). 



Unrecorded Habits of the Starling. — These habits referred to by 

 Mr. F. H. Parrott (p. 431) were noticed in ' The Field,' about two years 

 ago, by Mr. A. E. C. Streathfieid, as follows : — " I shall be very glad to 

 know whether the observations of others amongst your readers confirm 

 what I saw when coming up the Thames in the steamer from Bordeaux 

 last Sunday. There were a good many Starliugs about the river just below 

 Gravesend, and I saw several, when a long way from shore, fly to the 

 surface of the water and apparently pick up something, That some 

 substance floating on the water attracted the birds' attention was clear 

 from the way their course was suddenly changed, and I can only suppose 

 they picked up some scraps of food floating on the water. The Starling is 

 a most active and intelligent bird; may we think he has learnt a lesson 

 from the Gulls ? — J. L. Collison-Morley. 



Diving of the Manx Shearwater.— Mention is made (p. 374) of the 

 Manx Shearwater diving. This fact seems hitherto to have escaped much 

 observation. Mr. C. M. Adamsou, in his 'More Scraps about Birds' 

 (p. 209), speaks of the Shearwater being " well adapted in structure for 

 diving"; and the late Mr. D. W. Mitchell, in his account of the species 

 quoted in ' Yarrell ' (4th edit, vol. iv., p. 29), speaks of wounded birds 

 diving. I am not aware of any other references to the fact, and, as the 

 subject has some bearing on the debated question as to what they feed on, the 

 following may be of some interest : — In July last, when in the Island of 

 Eigg, I was watching an immense flock of Shearwaters one calm afteruoon ; 

 they were sitting on the water between Eigg and Rum, in a long line, and 

 evidently feeding, as they constantly changed their position. Soon after 

 settling on a new spot, the birds at the latter end of the line would fly 

 forwards and settle again in the very front of the column, and begin diving 



