170 Ornithological Notes, by George Bolam. 



come under my notice, but in other parts of England a few of each 

 seem to have arrived with the flocks of Pomarine Skuas. 



Fulmar Petrel {Procellaria glacialis). — A person living in 

 Spittal told me that he had shot a Fulmar in the middle of 

 October, 1879, on the sands at Holy Island, and had seen 

 another flying past a day or two afterwards. "The one shot 

 was," he said, " of a creamy white colour all over, and came so 

 close to him that he blew it all to pieces ; indeed, believing it, 

 when flying, to be only a Gull, he would not have shot it but for 

 its impudence in coming so near him." The man seemed so sure 

 that he had not mistaken the bird, chiefly identifj^ing it by its 

 peculiar bill, that I have little doubt it was really a Fulmar, and 

 its extreme fearlessness, which at first attracted his attention, 

 would seem to confirm this belief. A specimen was found in 

 December by Mr Grey, on the shore at Low Stead, it had been 

 washed up by the tide, and was when he picked it up partly 

 destroyed by crows. The head, however, which is perfect, has 

 been preserved. 



Glaucous Gull {Lotus glaucus). — Several mature birds of this 

 kind were observed in the river here during the past winter, and 

 one at least was killed. Another, which is now in my collection, 

 was shot near the Berwick Eailway Bridge, in December, 1878, 

 by a man then residing in Tweedmouth. Immature birds have 

 been less common than usual this winter ; generally they are 

 pretty frequent visitors to our harbour, and may, even at a dis- 

 tance, be easily distinguished from the young of the greater 

 black -backed and other Gulls, by their steady soaring flight. 



Ped-Throated Diver ( Colymbus septentrionalis). — A specimen 

 in fuU. summer dress, now in the Berwick Museum, was killed at 

 Holy Island, on the 25th October, 1879. Examples in this state 

 of plumage are not uncommon o"n the coast early in autumn and 

 late in spring, but this one seems to have been unusually late in 

 changing from the summer to the winter plumage. 



Velvet Scoter ( Oidemia fused). — A male bird of this species 

 frequented the rocks in the vicinity of Berwick pier throughout 

 the summer of 1879. It was constantly seen by the men engaged 

 at the salmon fishery there, and used often to allow their boat to 

 pass quite close to it without any apparent alarm ; never more 

 than one bird was seen at a time, and it remained in the neigh- 

 bourhood until about the middle of September. 



Berwich-on-Tweed, 1st June, 1880, 



