Birds. 3331 



the tips minutely edged with buff; tertials brownish lead-colour edged with buff, each 

 feather marked with diverging bands of dark brown, ending in black spots near the 

 buff border, and having a spear-shaped black patch at the tip, minutely edged with 

 buff : tail-coverts brown, broadly edged with whitish buff, banded and spotted with 

 black : the tail is rather large, cuneiform, the centre feathers 3£ inches long, shafts 

 black, web gray-brown, shading off into a whitish buff border, with a row of black 

 spots all round ; feathers on each side a bright fawn-colour, shafts and edges paler, 

 with a similar zone of black spots, the last feather outside white, barred with black ; 

 all the tail-feathers, except the two outer ones, have a large, black, kite-shaped patch 

 near the tip, with the remainder of the tip white : the chin white ; neck whitish buff, 

 with the dark centres of the feathers forming lines of spots: breast and sides whitish 

 buff, with dark brown arrow-head markings near the tip of each feather, growing paler 

 towards the abdomen, which, with the under tail-coverts, is white : under surface of 

 the wings white, beautifully barred and marked with lead-colour: the whole of the 

 neck is spotted with longitudinal bars, each feather being buff, with a straight, nar- 

 row, dark brown mark along the centre from base to tip. The legs are bare for 

 three quarters of an inch above the joint; the tarsus measures 2 inches ; legs and toes 

 brown, claws black. Whole length of the bird, from point of beak to extremity of the 

 tail 12 inches ; from the carpal joint to end of the first quill-feather 6f inches ; from 

 the point of the beak to the gape If inch ; gape to occiput 1 inch. — Hugh Reid ; the 

 Museum, French Gate, Doncaster, November 18, 1851. 



Occurrence of the Curlew Sandpiper at Fleetwood. — Whilst at Fleetwood, in this 

 county (Lancashire), during the month of September last, I picked out three fine 

 specimens of the above bird, from among a number of purres which were killed by my 

 brothers during a morning's " shore shooting." They are all in the winter plumage ; 

 one, I think, is a male, from the greater reduess of the neck, but am not sure of the 

 sexes, as I forgot to request the man who set them up to take notice of this particular. 

 Two of the birds I gave to the Salford Borough Royal Museum, and the third has 

 found a place in the Museum of the Manchester Natural History Society. — Jno. G. 

 Leeming ; The Adelphi, Salford, December 2, 1851. 



Occurrence of the Little Stint at Fleetwood. — During the autumn of 1850, when at 

 Fleetwood, one of ray brothers brought home a nice specimen of the little stint, which 

 he had killed on the river Wyre. It is also added to the collection of British birds 

 forming at the Free Museum and Library in this town. — Id. 



Occurrence of the Gray Phalarope (Phalaropus platyrrhynchus) at Carshalton. — On 

 Thursday last a gray phalarope was shot in my place at Carshalton. It had been ob- 

 served swimming about the river for some time. — S. Gurney,jun. ; Lombard St., 

 November 22, 1851. 



Occurrence of the Harlequin Duck in Banffshire. — A specimen of the harlequin 

 duck was shot on the Spey, near Gordon Castle, in October last. This bird has since 

 passed into my hands ; it is a young female of the year, in a state of plumage not de- 

 scribed by Mr. YarTell, but agreeing with that detailed by Temminck in his ' Manuel 

 d'Ornithologie': — " Les jeunes de l'annee sont varies de brun et de blanchatre ; mais 

 ils se distinguent par les taches blanches qui se dessinent sur les cotes de la tete: " — 

 ii. 878. I believe this is only the eleventh instance of the occurrence of this species 

 in Great Britain. — Edward Newton; Elveden Hall, Thetford, December 10, 1851. 



Occurrence of the Pomarine Skua (Lestris pomerinus) at Hastings. — A pair of this 

 bird, so scarce upon our coast, were shot at Hastings in the early part of last month. 



