ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM RYE. 413 



if practising for a ready flight, then resuming their labours in 

 search of food, totally immersing at times their heads in the 

 still water. 



Sept. 11th. Stormy; south-westerly wind. A single male 

 Blackcap Warbler secured. The plumage of this specimen 

 struck me as being somewhat different to the plumage of those 

 I have taken in summer. The mantle and shoulders possessed 

 a distinctly olive-green tinge, while the central feathers of the 

 belly were of a rich cream colour. Numbers of young Swallows, 

 and with them a few Sand Martins. 



Sept. 12th. Cloudy; south-westerly wind. Large numbers 

 of Sand Martins, both old and young. Twenty Godwits were 

 seen to-day in company with Curlews. 



Sept. 15th. Strong south-westerly wind. The majority of 

 Swallows and Sand Martins have left. 



Sept. 20th. A pair of Black-tailed Godwits. The night 

 clear and beautiful, with full harvest-moon. Between 9 p.m. 

 and midnight a large flock of Starlings, three small companies of 

 Green Sandpipers, two considerable flocks of Golden Plover, and 

 a small one of the Grey Plover, passed over. From the sound 

 of their voices a south-westerly direction was taken. 



Sept. 21st. Strong south-westerly wind and rainy. A single 

 Curlew Sandpiper (Tringa subarquata) (female) was obtained 

 to-day, while two Grey Phalaropes (Phalaropus lobatus) were seen 

 on the midripsc* Small parties of Redshanks (Totanus calidris) 

 arrived. They included both adults and immature birds ; moult 

 almost completed. I obtained to-day a young male of the small 

 race of Dunlin, and also, out of the same flock, one of the larger 

 race. The former had the following measurements : — Length 

 7 in., culmen l'l in., wing 4*4 in., weight lj oz. The latter bird 

 was an adult with winter dress almost assumed. Length 875 in., 

 culmen 1*45 in., wing 4*5 in., weight 2 oz. The plumage of the 

 former altogether darker than the ordinary form of Dunlin, while 

 the markings on breast and flanks brighter and more condensed. 

 I have observed that this small race is much later than the 

 majority in arriving on the coast during autumn, and fonder of 

 obtaining food near brackish water and on oozy flats than on the 

 shore-line. Among the large flocks of Dunlin now on the sands, 



* A name given to shallow pieces of water on the Lydd Beach. 



