362 Ornithological Notes. By George Bolam. 



Ruff. Machete* pugnax, Linnaeus. 



I saw two of these birds, in the usual autumn plumage of the young, near 

 Lucker station, on I7th September 1891. They were feeding upon an old 

 grass field in company with a scattered flock of Peewits and Golden 

 Plovers, but kept close together and always somewhat aloof from the other 

 birds. They were large birds, evidently from their size, both males, and 

 several times allowed me to approach within a short distance of them 

 before taking wing, at one time also passing very low over my head. 

 Although put up four or five times, and watched for nearly a quarter of an 

 hour, they were not observed to utter any note. 



I saw, in Mr Jackson's shop, in Newcastle, two Ruffs, both young birds, 

 which had been killed, along with two others, at Holy Island, in the 

 autumn of 1891 ; and Mr Charles Purvis of Alnwick showed me one 

 which he had shot near Alnmouth the previous year. 



Black-tailed Gol»wit. Limosa helgica, J. F. Gmelin. 



On 27th September 1889, a young male was shot by my brother on the 

 sands between Holy Island and Goswick, and is now in my collection. On 

 Ist January following, he saw another near the same place, but it was 

 very wild, and could not be approached. This last is an unusually late 

 date for the bird to be with us. 



Roseate Tern. Sterna dougalli, Montagu. 



This is always looked upon as a rare species upon the Northumberland 

 coast, but in Autumn at anyrate it is sometimes fairly numerous, and I 

 am inclined to think that there are often more breeding birds at the Fame 

 Islands than is suspected. Amongst the general cloud of Terns flying 

 around one's head on a visit to their nesting places, it is by no means easy 

 to pick out a particular bird, or to follow it with the eye for long at a 

 time ; but I have generally been able to identify a few Roseates amongst 

 the number. When on a visit to the Fames on 14th September 1885, I 

 saw, and watched for half-an-hour, a flock of quite twenty or thirty of these 

 birds engaged in fishing just off the Megstone Island, and had them often 

 within a few yards of me. Both old and young birds were of the party, 

 the former having all assumed the white foreheads of their winter 

 plumage. This is perhaps rather a later date than the birds usually 

 remain upon our coast. 



Little Tern. Sterna minuta, Linnaeus. 



Three specimens in my collection were shot off the rocks near Scremer- 

 ston on 15th August 1890; one is in adult plumage, the others immature. 

 Others were seen about Goswick during the same autumn ; and on 14th 

 June of the previous year my brother observed one flying alone, in the 

 harbour at Holy Island. 



