20 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



and, with a little scream of " ennui," fly perhaps fifty yards 

 landwards, when they again go to sleep. I know of no prettier 

 sight than to see a large flock of Peewits thus whiling away the 

 daytime. About dusk they resort to the turnip and other fields 

 inland, where they feed all night. 



During the month of September the slakes swarmed with 

 Oystercatchers, and I hardly saw any Peewits. In October 

 exactly the reverse was the case, and I was at a loss to know 

 where all the " sea plots " had got to. I imagine the great flocks 

 of Peewits were mostly immigrants, though outwardly no proof of 

 this was apparent. Most of those shot were young of the year. 

 During November, however, there were great numbers of both 

 Peewits and Oystercatchers. 



A prominent feature in the slakes during October is the 

 absence of the Lesser Black-backed Gull ; in September they 

 were numerous, but now their place is taken by their big brother, 

 L. viarinus. Often, when setting to fowl, this large Gull comes 

 sailing straight at you, and with his loud " hau-hau-hau " he 

 raises the slakes. In an instant, some Curlew, who had been 

 brooding what that strange white line on the water might be, takes 

 the warning, and, by his fearful vociferations, he usually succeeds 

 in spoiling the punter's chance of a shot. 



The ColumbidcB are all represented on the Northumberland 

 coast during winter. Though two of the three species breed in 

 Scotland and in the Hebrides, they do not arrive here any sooner 

 than the foreign-bred Wigeon, and often considerably later. Up 

 to the end of October I noticed very few, but after that date their 

 numbers increased till about the end of the year. 



Mr. Cullingford tells me that he had a Ked-throated Diver 

 from Lewis (Oct. 29th, 1886) with a perfectly red throat. He 

 also had a Black-throated Diver from Lincolnshire (Dec. 24th, 

 1885) with the new black throat already perfectly developed, 

 and the general plumage, checkered back, &c., was equally 

 advanced. It frequently happens that birds shot in March 

 and April do not show nearly so much summer dress as in 

 the above examples. The Ked-throat is always much the 

 commonest of the three Divers on our coast, the Black-throat 

 being the rarest. At daybreak there is a regular flight of 

 Divers from the sea, where they spend the night, into the 

 tidal channels of the harbour. Divers, unlike Mergansers, do 



