VOL. VII.] NOTES. 59 



two birds, and that it was not a case of seeing the same 

 bird twice. Maud D. Haviland. 



[The Black Tern has not been previously recorded from 

 either the Outer or Inner Hebrides. — Eds.] 



CASPIAN TERN IN SUSSEX. 



A FINE example of the Caspian Tern {Sterna fschegrava) was 

 obtained in Rye Bay on June 4th, 1913. It was no doubt 

 attracted into the bay by the very large shoals of mackerel 

 which could be seen on the surface of the water. 



I examined it in the flesh on June 5th, and it proved to be 

 a male in full summer-plumage. The bill A^as a bright coral 

 red ; legs and feet, blackish ; extreme width of wings, 

 4 ft. 2| in. ; length from point of bill to end of tail, 1 ft. 9 in. , 

 weight, 25 ounces. It had been feeding on mackerel. 



H. W. Ford-Lindsay. 



SCANDINAVIAN LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS 

 IN NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK. 



1 am able to place on record at least two definite occurrences 

 of the Scandinavian Lesser Black-backed Gull {Larus /. 

 fuscus) on the east coast. The first one I identified in 

 the Rev. Julian Tuck's collection, an adult in full summer- 

 plumage which he shot about August 22nd, 1881, at Aldeburgh, 

 Suffolk ; the second is in the possession of Mr. Saunders of 

 Yarmouth, and Avas shot, so he informs me, on Yarmouth 

 beach' on May 30th, 1887. I am fairly certain that I have 

 seen this race here at Lowestoft during the autumn migration 

 on more than one occasion. 



Although Howard Saunders in his Manual writes of the 

 Lesser Black-backed Gull as a resident, in my experience 

 on the Sussex, Kent, and Suffolk coasts it is entirely a spring 

 and autumn bird of passage, and during nearly twenty years 

 I have never seen one in winter ■ for certain. If there are 

 parts of Britain, as I have been told, where it occurs in winter, 

 it would be interesting to know to which race the birds belong. 

 Perhaps some other readers will give their experiences of the 

 status of this bird. Claud B. Ticehurst. 



Albinistic Lapwing. — On May 24th, 1913, in the Outer 

 Hebrides, I observed an albinistic Lapwing ( Vanellus 

 vanellus) nesting among half a dozen normal pairs. The bird, 

 which was a hen, was mated to a normally- coloured bird 

 and had young. Her crest and throat and the tips of the 

 primaries were black, and the tail-coverts, bill and feet were 

 coloured as usual, but the rest of the plumage was of a very 

 pale grey. — Maud D, Haviland. 



