NOTES AND QUERIES. 113 



shooting near Towyn, Wales, I saw a Dipper, Cinclus aquaticus, enter the 

 water from the opposite bank of a wide, but still stream. It swam steadily 

 and easily, in a slanting direction up the stream to the other side, swam 

 low in the water, and looked very much like a Water Vole crossing a 

 stream. — F. Coburn (Holloway Head, Birmingham). 



Wildfowl in Merionethshire. — Following the great gale of November 

 last, between the 16th to '20th of that month, several birds appeared at 

 Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, which, though common enough on the 

 east coast of England, seldom visit North Wales. On the 18th, during 

 the height of the gale, I shot an immature Long-tailed Duck, Harelda 

 glacialis, as it was diving close under the rocks in the estuary there. On 

 the 22nd I saw a Sclavonian Grebe with fully developed ruff — a late date 

 for this bird to retain the summer plumage. Early on the morning of the 

 27th I noticed a pair of Bewick's Swans on the north beach ; they did not 

 remain long, however, but passed inland, disappearing over the hills to the 

 N.E. On the evening of the same day, while waiting for Ducks at flight 

 time, I killed a Grey Phalarope, Phalaropus fulicarius, at the edge of a 

 pool on the saltings near the village of Talsarnan. Lastly, on Dec. 4th, I 

 shot a Snow Bunting, Plectrophanus nivalis, from a flock which was 

 feeding in company with Linnets on the mud banks in Pensarn estuary. — 

 G. H. Caton Haigh (Aber-Ia, Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, N.W.). 



Nesting of the Great Crested Grebe in the North of Ireland.— 

 In March last year, being in Ireland, I went on the 29th of that month 

 — a beautifully fine day — to a village about three miles from the one in 

 which I was then staying, to have a look at a large artificial lake which I 

 had heard of as being the resort of some Great Crested Grebes, Podicipes cris- 

 tatas. On approaching the lake we could see their white breasts glistening 

 in the sunshine. There were nine of these birds on the lake. We walked 

 round to get a nearer inspection of them, and on our way we flushed 

 three Snipe, also a flock of nine Teal and some Wild Ducks. While 

 looking at the Grebes we saw two of them lower their heads suddenly and 

 swim rapidly towards one another, and when they met (their heads being 

 parallel to the water till they did so) they crossed their beaks and raised 

 themselves slightly from the water ; they then swam away again. This 

 strange performance I am told they go through before they commence to 

 make their nests. A friend mentioned to me in a letter that on this lake, 

 later in the summer, he saw a Great Crested Grebe swimming about, fol- 

 lowed by some young ones, and he had no doubt that more than one pair 

 had nested there. The lake is in the north of Ireland, but I do not want 

 to give the name of the situation, for who can tell what molestation these 

 fine birds may experience if any " collector " should chance to go that way. 

 — G. B. Horsbrugh (4, Richmond Hill, Bath). 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XVHI. — MARCH, 1894. K 



