NOTES AND QUERIES. 115 



was constantly out over the country all round the Curragh, yet I never 

 came across any Snow Buntings except on the open downs of the Curragh 

 itself. I should very much like to know about what date Snow Buntings 

 may be expected to arrive at the Curragh. — Arthur W. Hasted. 



Great Spotted Woodpecker in North Wales. — A bird which I think, 

 from the description given me, was most likely Picus major, was seen by a 

 friend of mine in the garden at Tyn-y-Coed, Arthog, N. Wales, during the 

 first week in November last. — Arthur W. Hasted. 



Pied Flycatcher and Grey Wagtail in North Wales.— I saw a pair 

 of the former, on May 5th last, at Arthog, N. Wales, and am told that 

 Muscicapa atricapilla is frequently met with in that part of the country. 

 On the same day I had the pleasure of watching a pair of Grey Wagtails, 

 Motacilla boarula, for some time. — Arthur W. Hasted. 



Waders on the Solway Firth. — It is a curious fact that the Solway 

 Firth is visited almost every year by certain species which are excessively 

 rare on the west coast of Scotland. The Spotted Redshank, Totanus 

 fuscus, and the Little Stint, Tringa minuta, are species in point. A few 

 Little Stints visit us every year, and we meet with them both on the 

 Scottish and English sides of the Solway Firth. Since we have searched 

 for the Spotted Redshank, it has been met with in immature plumage 

 nearly every autumn, almost always in the same part of the Solway. The 

 Grey Plover, Squatarola helvetica, is seldom seen on the west coast of 

 Scotland. The numbers that visit the Solway Firth vary very much, 

 especially in the spring of the year, when assuming the black breasts before 

 their departure. One was brought to me lately which had been stuffed by 

 a farm servant ; he did not think the black feathers of the breast sufficiently 

 deep in colour, so had tried to improve upon Nature by staining them with 

 ink, which has left a purplish stain upon the plumage. We can rarely get 

 a black-breasted Grey Plover ; the bulk of the old birds that j winter on 

 the Solway Firth delay their arrival with us until after they have assumed 

 full winter livery. I have seen birds killed in nuptial plumage in September, 

 and Mr. Seebohm thought they must be spring-killed birds. The birds in 

 nuptial livery that visit us in autumn are always very wild and difficult to 

 approach ; unlike the Golden Plover, which always seem to me to be 

 tamest when in full livery.— H. A. Macpherson (Carlisle). 



Little Gull on the Solway Firth.— Although the Little Gull, Larus 

 minutus, wanders to the Solway Firth at not infrequent intervals, I never 

 met with it on the Scottish side of our estuary until the present winter. In 

 January last an immature bird of this species was shot on the Solway 

 between Annan and Dumfries. It is in very similar plumage to a specimen 

 which was obtained on the English side of the water on the 25 th of October 

 last— H. A. Macpherson (Carlisle). 



