1910 Birds. 



as these. Could not some mark by which Paget's pochard is distinguished, such as 

 the small white bar across the wing, have been selected as the ground for a specific 

 appellation ? 



James Smith. 



Manse of Monquhitter by Turriff, Aberdeenshire, 

 September 21, 1847. 



Occurrence of the Bar-tailed Godwit near Banff. — On the 3rd of this month there 

 was shot, on the sea shore near Banff, a specimen of the bar-tailed godwit, the Limosa 

 rufa of ornithologists. It was killed, and afterwards mounted, by Mr. Thomas Ed- 

 ward, an individual of whom I took the liberty to make mention on a former occasion 

 in the pages of the Zoologist. So far as I am aware, the bird in question had never 

 been before observed in this particular locality, nor indeed in this district of the coun- 

 try. As it is only of late, however, that anything like a taste for natural history has 

 been created in the public mind, it is quite possible, or rather it is probable, that its 

 occurrence here may have hitherto been overlooked. From the remarks of naturalists 

 it would appear that its line of migration is in general farther to the east. It was evi- 

 dently on its return from those high latitudes where it is understood to breed, no in- 

 stance of its nest having, as yet, been found in Britain. The tide was at the moment 

 receding ; and the bird was busily employed in following the waves, probing the wet 

 sand all the while with its bill. It uttered no cry, and appeared careless of danger. 

 It is a male, and exhibits an intermediate and interesting state between the winter and 

 the summer plumage. The rich bay, which in the nuptial season adorns the breast, 

 has disappeared, and has given way to a pale, but delicate and beautiful, sand colour, 

 which in time would have been succeeded by the pure white of the garb of winter. 

 On the belly there is already a mixture of white along with the peculiar colour above 

 mentioned. The feathers on the back are brown, with an edging of pale rufous. The 

 bill is about two inches and a half in length, and, towards the extremity and at the 

 tip, has a decided curve upwards, forming in this manner a beautiful link in that par- 

 ticular structure of Nature, which, in the present class of birds, begins perhaps with 

 the greenshank, and obtains its full development in the singular configuration ex- 

 hibited by the bill of the avocet. — James Smith ; Manse of Monquhitter by Turriff, 

 Aberdeenshire , September 21, 1847. 



Occurrence of the Avocet at the Land's End. — A specimen of this bird was sent to 

 this place for preservation, by James Trembath, Esq., last evening, near whose resi- 

 dence, within a mile of the Land's End, it was shot. It appears to be a young bird 

 of the year, from the lesser scapularies being deeply margined with dull rufous. This 

 bird is of very unusual occurrence in Cornwall, and I have never before the present 

 instance seen an example in the flesh. — Edivard Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, September 

 14, 1847. 



