NOTES AND QUERIES. 411 



fishing grounds this autumn. I had three brought to me on Oct. 14th, none 

 of which, however, were in fully mature plumage. Terns of all kinds have 

 been almost totally absent this year, the only specimens I have seen being 

 two immature examples o( the Common Tern, Sterna fluviatilis. Gannets, 

 Sula bassana, on the other hand, have been unusually abundant off the 

 coast during the last three weeks. Numbers may be seen fishing in their 

 peculiar manner in the north and south bays. The sea has for some time 

 past been alive with young Whiting, about four or five inches long, and it 

 is probably this unusual supply of food which has tempted the Gannets 

 inshore. — William J. Clakke (44, Huntriss Row, Scarborough). 



American Stint in North Devon.— An example of the American Stint, 

 Tringa minutilla, making the third occurrence of this species recorded for 

 the British Isles, has been recently obtained here by Mr. W. B. Hawley. 

 It was met with in exactly the same locality as the specimen secured by 

 Mr. Rickards in 1869, but just a month earlier. Mr. Hawley says : — " On 

 the 16th of August last, a Stint rose close to me on the mudflats of the 

 Northam Burrows. It flew with a zigzag flight, but not nearly so im- 

 petuously as the Little Stint. It uttered a note very like that of the Little 

 Stint, but less ioud. When it had flown about one hundred yards it was 

 joined by a pair of Ringed Plovers, and the three birds then settled. 

 I tried to get close to them, but they rose immediately and flew out of 

 sight. On the 22nd of August, at about 8 a.m., I met with the bird again 

 within a short distance of the place where I had first seen it. It rose 

 silently from a little ditch, and I at once shot it. The irides were dark 

 brown, the bill nearly black, and the legs and toes greenish yellow. It 

 was evidently very fat." Mr. Hawley did not attach any great importance 

 to his specimen at the time, but two or three weeks later, on reading the 

 account of Mr^Rickards's Stint quoted from ' The Zoologist' in ' The Birds 

 of Devon,' it struck him that the bird in question might possibly be an 

 example of the same species. The skin was accordingly sent to the Rev. 

 Murray A. Mathew, who at once vouched for its identity. There were a 

 number of Little Stints on Braunton Burrows about the same date. — 

 H. A. Evans (Westward Ho, North Devon). 



Eared Grebe in Anglesea. — Mr. T. A. Coward states (p. 358) that 

 he saw a Grebe of this species in Auglesea last August, and considers the 

 occurrence unusual. I may state that I have a fairly good knowledge of 

 the birds of this island, and consider Podicipes nigricollis a resident. In 

 May last, whilst birdnesting in the vicinity of some small lakes about seven 

 miles from here, a male Grebe of this species, in breeding plumage, flew 

 low overhead. It returned again in about five minutes, and from the 

 nature of the district I had no doubt at the time that the female was sitting 

 somewhere in the neighbourhood. It is usually impossible to reach the 



