386 Ornithological Notes. "By George Bolam. 



other near Chillingham Castle. A male in my collection was shot npon 

 the road close to Carham Station, upon the Berwick and Kelso Eailway, 

 on 5th November, 1831 ; and during the same week, another, also a male, 

 was killed nearDownhamin Northumberland. About the 20th of November, 

 1882, one was shot near Spittal and was brought by its captor to the 

 Berwick Museum but was not, I believe, preserved ; and towards the end of 

 the same month a seventh example was taken alive at Doxford near 

 Alnwick. 



Red-backed Shrike : Lanius collurio, Linn. 

 A young female in immature plumage was shot by my brother on 15th 

 September last, upon the sea banks about a mile and a half to the north of 

 Berwick, and is now in my collection. 



Tawny Owl : Strix aluco, (Linn.) 

 Tawny owls undoubtedly migrate to our shores in considerable numbers in 

 the autumn from more northern latitudes, although I cannot say that I 

 have remarked the clear grey plamage which Mr Robt. Gray thinks dis- 

 tinguishes these visitors. The species breed regularly in nearly all our 

 woods, and the birds met with during summer vary greatly in the 

 shade and tint of their plumage ; and this variation as in the case of some 

 other birds of prey seems to be quite independent of either age or sex. 



On the 26th October last I came upon an individual of this species, 

 sitting upon the remains of an old wreck near low water mark, upon the 

 Goswick sands, and quite two miles away from the nearest ' land.' In 

 spring and during the early part of summer tawny owls may often be 

 heard hooting loudly in the middle of the day, and with apparent indiffer- 

 ence to the bright sunshine. 



Pied Flycatcher : Muscicapa atricapilla, Linn. 

 I have lately met with this species with some regularity during its 

 autumnal migrations. 



As previously recorded in the " Proceedings" of the Club one was shot 

 in the garden here on the 16th October, 1879, while in 1881 I killed two 

 birds in the same locality — one on the 25th, the other on the 26th of Sep- 

 tember. Last autumn several were observed in the garden during 

 September and one was shot on the 15th "of that month on the sea shore, 

 sitting upon a stone within the tide mark. The above were mostly young 

 birds in winter plumage, but one or two were adults still retaining amongst 

 the brown winter feathers some slight indications of the black of their 

 summer dress. 



On their return in spring they are less frequently met with. They have 

 then generally almost completed the change to summer plumage ; one in 

 this state was killed at Goswick during the second week in May, 1881, and 

 came into the possession of Mr Robt. Gray. In May, 1879, two mature 

 birds were seen in a garden near Longhoughton, in the parish of Lesbury, 

 and one of them was killed by a stone from a catapult. A male in my 

 collection, which was killed near Felton on 10th May, 1883, differs slightly 

 from the ordinary type in having the white on the outside feathers of the 

 tail almost entirely wanting ; the outer feather on each side being the only 

 ones shoYping any signs of white, and they having only the very smallest tip. 



