294 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



remained in his hands when I returned to duty. Some other 

 cases of waders may be said to rise above mediocrity. One of 

 the downy Grey Plovers, which Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie 

 Brown brought back from Siberia, has been lately added to the 

 Museum. Two beautiful adults in full summer livery, a phase 

 very difficult to obtain on the Solway Firth, are included in the 

 same case. 



The Phalaropes also come out pretty well. The best Grey 

 Phalarope is an old female, shot on the Solway in December, and 

 wearing complete winter dress with the exception of a single red 

 feather still retained among the upper tail-coverts. 



The prettiest case of Laridce is that of Xema sabinii, which is 

 only, however, represented by two immature birds. One of these 

 was shot on the Dorset coast, at the beginning of December, 

 1893 (not, as I recorded, in November) ; its fellow is a bird which 

 was shot on the Solway Firth the same year. The next group is 

 that of Larus minutus. The two adults are of foreign origin ; but 

 both the immature birds and the specimen in change were shot 

 on the Solway. 



It would be tedious to give such cursory jottings as these at 

 any greater length ; but it may be pardonable to point out that 

 the collection includes a few local rarities. Mr. Edward Tandy 

 was good enough to give the Museum the only Cumbrian speci- 

 men of the Pectoral Sandpiper. Mr. J. H. Gurney most 

 generously allowed the Crofton-killed specimen of the Surf 

 Scoter to return to the county in which it was shot. (I gave him 

 the only good bird I had myself in exchange, an adult Ivory Gull, 

 which had belonged to Sir W. Jardine.) The unique British 

 specimen of the Isabelline Wheatear was given to the National 

 Collection before the present Carlisle Museum was opened, but 

 we have the promise of the loan of a local Alpine Swift ; and 

 Mr. Heywood Thompson has lent his immature male specimen 

 of the Surf Scoter, which he shot on the Kibble. Mr. John 

 Young was kind enough to bring us the downy young of the 

 Little Ringed Plover from Hungary, with a pair of old birds. 

 Mr. John Benson was good enough to bring two nestlings of 

 Turdus pilaris from Norway at my request. Professor Collett 

 has most kindly presented nestling skins of the Shore Lark, 

 Siskin, and two or three other species. 



No public funds are available for acquiring specimens. We 



