206 CORDEAUX: BIRD-NOTES FROM THE HUMBER DISTRICT. 
apparent; not only was the colour distinct, but the build of 
the bird was quite different, longer and more slender; it also 
stood higher, and the immensely long wings extended in 
a straight line beyond the tail. In flight this length of wing 
was very conspicuous. I noticed it was much the boldest of 
the lot, and came in sweeping just above the beached boats. 
Twice it sailed up a gully, within half-gunshot, below where 
I stood on the upper cliff slope. It was master of the other 
gulls, for when one happened to stoop with it at the same 
tit-bit it made a half-dash, driving it on one side, and quickly 
appropriated the morsel to itself. It finally left its companions, 
flying straight out to sea. 
Corvus corone L. Carrion Crow. May 2nd. A pair early 
this morning were carrying beak-fulls of dead grass to a ledge 
of one of the Flamborough cliffs, where evidently they intended 
nesting. Rock Pipits were also employed in the same way, the 
position chosen by the latter being the lower edge of the steep 
green slope of the upper cliff, and quite inaccessible without 
a rope. 
Corvus cornix L. Hooded Crow. May 8th. When walking 
with Mr. Bailey to-day we saw one; I saw others on the gth, 
and again a single bird on the 26th, between Welwick and 
Easington, These may have been cripples or in some way 
suffering from injuries which prevented them crossing the sea. 
Passer montanus L. Tree Sparrow. May 3rd. There are 
several pairs nesting in holes in the masonry of Lloyd’s signal 
a hole under one of the window-sills, with the nest distinctly 
visible in the back-ground. 
Carduelis elegans Steph. Goldfinch. May 3rd._ I saw a pair 
near an orchard and garden at Flamborough, and evidently 
nesting in the locality. 
Mergus serrator |. Red-Breasted Merganser. May 4th. 
There were a pair this morning of these elegant birds on the 
Bridlington side of the Point of Flamborough Head. I watched 
them for nearly half-an-hour with the telescope diving for food 
in the midst of a tremendous surf, brought in by a strong 
northerly wind ; all their actions were most graceful and easy, 
riding the waves like a cork and often diving under the toppling 
crest, all the time keeping nearly above one spot and constantly 
going under. The Merganser is rare on the east coast, and 
I have altogether only half-a-dozen notes of it in thirty-two years- 
Naturalist, — 
