20 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



weeks in November, on the 21st of that month, when staying at Flam- 

 borough, I accompanied him to the spot, and after a little search found 

 them on a barley stubble. This field, which had all the appearance of bad 

 cultivation, was much frequented by small birds for the sake of the various 

 seeds of weeds to be found there. There was a flock of about one thousand 

 Snow Buntings, besides droves of the common Sparrow, Chaffinches, 

 Greenfinches, and others. It is surrounded by rough unkept hedges. 

 The Lapland Buntings, like the other birds, were on the stubbles, but flew 

 up in rather close a body to the hedge, and then began directly to drop 

 by twos and threes to the stubble. On our moving a few steps they 

 again took to the hedgerow, and this sort of thing was repeated while we 

 remained. I should say that Mr. Bailey's estimate of sixty to eighty was 

 very near the number we saw then, although on subsequently visiting the 

 place later in the day I calculated the flock at one hundred to one hundred 

 and twenty. When on the hedge they were very favourably placed for 

 examination through the glass. Like Snow Buntings, they show con- 

 siderable diversity of plumage. The flock was a mixed one, males and 

 females, and probably also young; the males had the black parts much 

 broken and mottled, and amongst them were several Linnets and three 

 very bright Siskins. In their flights between the stubble and hedge 

 the grey markings on the wings and outer tail-feathers afforded a very 

 distinguishable feature, and they appeared to me to spread their tails 

 considerably more than do some small birds, recalling in this respect the 

 flight of the Crested Lark, which I have seen in Germany. They might 

 easily be passed over for Tree Sparrows, having exactly the same habit of 

 crowding a hedgetop and straggling down to the stubble to feed, and on 

 the least disturbance all flying up in a body. Mr. Bailey told me that on 

 one occasion, on the road between Flamborough village and the lighthouse, 

 the whole flock dropped from the hedge to the footpath about twenty yards 

 before him. During the day I saw two or three with Snow Buntings about 

 a shallow pool in a field, one of these being on the floating weed. I also 

 saw, on Nov. 22nd, a "Leaf-warbler" like a ChiffchafF on the side of a 

 plantation hawking for flies.* It is a curious fact that during the hurricane 

 from the north on the 19th, several Terns were seen near the extreme 

 point of the headland. Immense flights of Snow Buntings came in at 

 Flamborough in the same week as the Lapland Buntings, and I saw many 

 large flocks on the stubbles there during my visit. — John Cordeaux 

 (Great Cotes, R.S.O., Lincoln). 



Little Auk in Co. Sligo. — When walking on the Enniscrone Sands, 

 on Nov. 19th, I picked up the remains of a Little Auk, Mergulus alle, 

 destroyed by the Gulls. It was in a perfectly fresh state, however, and 



* This was not a Chiffchaff ; it had a distinct bar on the wing. 



