106 ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. By G. BOLAM 



two of these came into my possession. Most of those which 

 remained, left the locality within a day or two, but we had 

 frequent opportunities of seeing a single specimen, which 

 loitered about the mouth of the Beal Lowe up till the 

 beginning of November. 



On 6th October 1899, two more Bernacles were shot at 

 Holy Island, and, in the early morning of 27th November 

 following, a flock of about twenty individuals, which were 

 coming up from the direction of the sea, passed over my 

 head near Beal railway station. 



Bean Goose. Anser segetum (J. F. Gmelin.) 



Small parties of wild geese occasionally take to roosting 

 on Yarrow Haugh, just above Tweedmouth railway bridge, 

 and all those killed there, which have come under my notice, 

 have proved to belong to this species. Coming to the slake 

 late in the evening, and leaving again, to feed on the fields 

 inland, in early morning, they are seldom seen during day- 

 light, and seem thus to escape the attention of local shooters. 

 One was killed there in 1896, and another — one of four 

 which had frequented the place for several weeks — was 

 brought to me on 17th December 1898, having been shot 

 early that morning. It was a large bird, in adult plumage, 

 and turned the scales at a little over eight pounds. Two, 

 which were sent to Berwick, on 11th February 1899, had 

 been killed near Fenhara, and were immature birds, the 

 heaviest weighing seven and a half pounds. 



Bittern. Botanrus stellaris (Linn.) 



One evening, about the beginning of January 1898, a 

 Bittern flew into the face of a man, who was walking along 

 the road, in the dark, near Oxford, in the parish of Ancroft, 

 and was struck down and secured after a short scrimmage. 

 I saw it shortly after it had been set up. On 5th December 

 in the same year, Mr J. de C. Paynter, of Alnwick, pur- 

 chased one, which had been picked up alive, but in a 

 disabled state, close to that town, having, as was supposed, 

 come in contact with the telegraph wires, 



