White-billed Northern Diver at Scarborough. 21g 
spots on the back were arranged in a similar pattern to those 
on the Great Northern Diver, but were larger individually and 
considerably fewer in number, in colour a light ash grey. The 
feathers of the back and wings bore no light margins, hence 
I concluded the bird was adult. In size, I estimated it to be 
slightly larger than the biggest Great Northern I have handled, 
which was a specimen weighing Io lbs. 
Although so large a bird, it was very remarkable to note 
the graceful way in which it dived. During the couple of 
hours I had it under observation it was continually descending 
in search of food. This operation was performed by dipping 
the head quietly under water, and the body submerged without 
the slightest disturbance, as if drawn beneath by an invisible 
force. The contrast to the acrobatic feats of the Shags feeding 
close at hand, was very striking, and even the accomplished 
performance of a Red-throated Diver near by was clumsy by 
comparison. 
I did not see it catch a fish, but it several times brought up 
large shapeless lumps of what appeared to be fish offal which 
had been buried in the mud, and these were swallowed. On 
one occasion, it brought to the surface what I took to be a 
crab, but I was not quite sure. 
After three days’ sojourn the bird disappeared, and I 
did not see it again. Nor could I hear of it from any of the 
pier men, all of whom had noticed it on account of its great 
size: 
WOR. 
BIRDS. 
Nesting of the Grasshopper Warbler in the West 
Riding.—As a sequel to the notes of Mr. Sam Longbottom 
and myself under the above heading (ante pp. 167-170 and 
199-203) on a pair of these birds that successfully reared two 
broods of six in each nest last seaSon (1915), I am sorry to have 
to add that they have kept true to their erratic nature in this 
district, and not any of them, old or young, have returned 
this season. Until June 16th Mr. Longbottom, the park- 
ranger, and several other local observers have kept a strict 
look-out for their return ;. so that we can now look upon it 
as hopeless, and we can also designate them as ungrateful 
birds—after such a successful nesting season, and with a promise 
‘of another similar one; aided by protective friends. I can 
only add that it is another proof that wild nature has a way 
of its own; quite regardless of man’s idea of what it should 
be.—H. B. Bootn, Ben Rhydding. 
Paro 
Man, for April, contains an excellent portrait and an obituary notice 
of the late Sir Clements Markham. 
1916 July 1. 




