NOTES AND QUERIES. 311 



neighbouring field, among the shingle and debris on the edge of a tidal 

 creek we found a Lapwings nest with three eggs, having seen the bird 

 leaving them. So closely did these eggs resemble their surroundings that 

 at five yards they were practically invisible, though there was absolutely 

 nothing to interrupt the view, and neither of us could discern the eggs 

 again, having once lost sight of them, without walking back right up to the 

 spot where we knew the nest to be. — Allan Ellison (Trinity College, 

 Dublin). 



Occurrence of .ffigialitis asiatica (Pallas) in Norfolk.- — The true 

 home of this beautiful Plover appears to be Western Asia, more especially 

 the shores of the Caspian Sea, whence in winter it passes by the Red Sea 

 shore and Abyssinia, to South and South-west Africa. In the western 

 palaearctic region Mr. Dresser speaks of it as a rare straggler, but it has 

 occurred twice in Heligoland, and strange to say at very opposite periods 

 of the year, namely, a young bird in November, 1850, and an adult male, 

 in full summer plumage, on the 19th May, 1859. These, until the occur- 

 rence of which I am about to speak, are the most westerly examples 

 recorded ; but Mr. Harting, in an excellent article " On rare and little- 

 known Limicolce" contributed to ' The Ibis ' in 1870 (2nd series, vi. 

 pp. 201 — 213), concludes some remarks on the distribution and routes of 

 migration of this species with the observation that it is quite possible, on 

 some future occasion, the bird may occur in England. It was with no 

 little pleasure, therefore, that on the evening of the 23rd of May, 1890, I 

 received from Mr. Lowne, of Yarmouth, the fresh skin of a handsome 

 full-plumaged male of this species which he sent for determination, as the 

 bird was unknown to him. I subsequently learnt the following particulars 

 with regard to this interesting occurrence. During the morning of the 

 22nd of May, a date very nearly coinciding with the second appearance of 

 the Caspian Plover in Heligoland, two strange birds were seen in a large 

 market-garden, known as Sacret's Piece, bordering on the North Denes, at 

 Yarmouth, which attracted the attention of a man named Samuel Smith, 

 who works the garden for a Mr. Bracey, but he had no opportunity of a 

 shot. About 5.30 p.m., when they were on the golf ground, which forms 

 a portion of the denes, Smith's step-son, Arthur Bensley, saw them, and 

 having a gun with him tried to get both birds in line for a double shot, but 

 being unsuccessful selected the brighter of the two, its companion being 

 at the time about six yards distant from it ; when he fired the paler bird, 

 presumably the female, flew off in a westerly direction, and was no more 

 seen. Very shortly after, the bird was purchased of Smith by Mr. H. C. 

 Knights, by whom it was shown in the flesh to Mr. G. F. D. Preston, and 



* Extract from ' The Birds of Norfolk,' vol. iii. (now in the press). 



