358 Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 



country. Thus in that Journal of the 24th January, Mr Henry Sharp 

 wrote that on the 16th he had seen near Beverley, in Yorkshire, three 

 large white birds with black tips to their wings, which he strongly sus- 

 pected were Snow Geese ; and in the same paper of 31st January, there 

 appeared a letter from the Rev. H. A. Macpherson of Carlisle, giving 

 particulars of four birds which he and a friend had met with upon the 

 Solway, and which they had quite satisfied themselves were of this 

 species. These latter birds, wrote Mr Macpherson, had been first observed 

 near Allonby on 3rd January, and appeared to have remained in the 

 neighbourhood for nearly a month. 



Other large white birds, which were supposed to have been of this 

 species, were seen in Skye on 16th February, and in Ireland at Waterville, 

 in CO. Kerry, in January. The Snow Goose is a native of North America, 

 and very rarely visits Europe ; and as already stated, this is, besides being 

 the first known occurrence of the bird in our district, one of the very few 

 occasions on which it has been noticed in Great Britain. The close 

 similarity between the dates of arrival at Holy Island, and upon other 

 parts of the coast, is very interesting. 



Bernacle Goose. Bernicla leucopsis, Bechstein. 



An immature bird of this species was killed by Mr Charles Purvis from 

 his punt at Holy Island, on 24th October 1890, and is now in his pos- 

 session. It was, he tells me, all alone when found, and was so easily 

 approached that he was able to shoot it with his 12-bore shoulder gun. 



On 1st March 1889, when at Holy Island, I saw a flock of five of these 

 birds, which were tiying back and forwards between the slakes and the 

 sea ; and the island shooters have in recent years several times reported 

 having seen what they call ' Bernacles'; but Brent Geese are sometimes so 

 white in appearance as to be easily mistaken by them for the lighter 

 coloured birds. 



Eed-Breasted Merganser. Mergus serrator, Linnseus. 



On the 18th August 1890, my brother met with a party of seven of these 

 birds near the mouth of the Tweed at Berwick, and shot one of their 

 number — a very young and scarcely full-grown bird. They were, how- 

 ever, strong upon the wing, and as the species breeds freely in Scotland, 

 not more than 100 miles distant, they had no doubt migrated from thence. 

 Still this is an unusually early date for these birds to be with us. 



Smew. Mergus alhellus, Linnaeus. 



The Smew, especially in the adult state, is rarely seen upon our coast, 

 and then only in exceptionally severe and stormy weather. A most 

 beautiful male in full plumage was shot, by a person named Simpson, in 

 the Tweed at Yarrow Haugh, near Berwick, on 20th January 1891 ; and 

 just six days later another bird, an immature male with only one or two 



