VOL. VII.] NOTES. 23 



EIDER IN NORTH WALES. 



On March 15th, 1913, Mr. F, Brownsword saw a couple of 

 drake Eiders {Somateria m. mollissima) in adult dress swim- 

 ming in Colwyn Bay. The bird is rare off the North Wales 

 coast. T. A. CowAED 



BLACK- WINGED PRATINCOLES IN SUSSEX. 

 Towards the end of April, 1913, a party of four Black-winged 

 Pratincoles {Glareola nordmanni) was observed near Rye, 

 Sussex. All of them were eventually obtained by the same 

 man. One shot on April 30th proved to be a male, two on 

 May 1st were male and female, and the last shot on May 3rd 

 was a female. I saw all the birds in the flesh as shot, and they 

 were in splendid condition. The last bird was not recovered 

 until the next day ; being obtained late in the evening, it 

 could not be found as the light was bad, but on searching 

 early next morning it was located, floating in a dyke. 



H. W. Ford -Lindsay. 



DOTTEREL IN WIGTOWNSHIRE. 



As the Dotterel {Gharadrius morineUus) is rarely reported 

 from south-west Scotland, it is worth noting that we saw 

 one, which appeared to be all alone, on a ploughed field 

 at the Mull of Galloway, on May 3rd, 1913. 



J. G. Gordon. 



H. F. WiTHERBY. 



YOUNG SANDPIPERS SWIMMING UNDER 



WATER. 



Since reading the review of Mr. Millais's British Diving 

 Ducks in the May number of British Birds, where it is 

 stated that further observation is required as to the extent 

 the diving ducks use their wings under water for propulsion, 

 it has occurred to me that the following observation, though 

 made some years ago, of young Sandpipers thus using their 

 wings, might be of some interest. On June 17th, 1898, 

 Mr. Ben Tait, my brother, and I walked over to Loch Chesney 

 (Wigtownshne) to try for perch. Near the boat-house a pair 

 of Common Sandpipers {Tringa hypoleuca) were flying about 

 in a very excited way: one even flopped along the surface 

 of the water and then ran on the shore trailing one \vdng. 

 We now spied one of the young ones more than half -grown 

 near the boat, under which it ran, and on pushing the boat 

 quietly into the water we found three squatting close on the 

 ground. My brother touched one, and with general accord 

 they all dashed into the loch, diving and swimming under 



