192 CoTnmunicatioTis on Birds. 



Mr George Bolam records that a female, in very poor condition, 

 was picked up dead, 20tli February 1886, on the sands at Alnmouth. — 

 B.N.C., XI., p. 258. 



The following are recorded in Mr John Hancock's Catalogue of the 

 Birds of Northumberland and Durham (Nat. Hist. Trans, of North- 

 umberland and Durham, Vol. vi., 1874, p. 132. " Many years ago I 

 found a specimen picked up on Whitley sands. Another example, 

 in my collection, was picked up alive on the sands near Whitburn, 

 on the 11th October 1850; it was in a sickly condition." A second 

 specimen was found dead in the same locality, March 1869. Mr 

 Eaine of Durham had a preserved example, picked up dead on the 

 sands at Bamburgh in November 1872. 



Mr J. H. Gurney, jun., had a specimen taken on the beach at 

 Sunderland, September 1868. " The same gentleman received, in the 

 following November, 4 other examples that had been captured off 

 Scarborough by the fishermen ; they took them by hand on the decks 

 of their boats. This mode of capture quite accords with the account 

 given by the Greenland whalers, who are able to procure any number 

 of them when they are cutting or 'flinching' the blubber; for then 

 the ' Mallemoke,' as they call it, comes to feed, and so intent is it 

 on its repast that it will allow itself to be knocked over or 

 captured by the hand." — J.H. 



(3) Great Northern Diver ( Colymbus glacialis, L.) at Dunbar. 

 By David Bruce, Station Master N.B.R., Dunbar. 



I BEG to acquaint yon that yesterday (4th January 1895) I secured 

 a specimen of the Great Northern Diver, which had been captured 

 at the Whitesands, about 2 miles east from Dunbar. 



When first shot at, the bird dived like a flash, but came up about 

 70 yards further along the beach, showing only its head and neck, 

 body submerged. It was shot through the head and secured. 



This handsome bird, the largest of the Colymbidea, is seen 

 occasionally on the East Lothian coast in winter; so also is the 

 Black Throated Diver, but both are very much rarer than is the 

 Red Throated Diver. Of the latter I saw six in one day this 

 winter, while boating between Dunbar Harbonr and the Bass. 



The present specimen measures 2 feet 9 inches in length. Expanse 

 of wing, from tip to tip, 4 feet 9 inches. To the best of my 

 knowledge it appears to be an adult bird in winter dress. 



5th January 1895. 



