4l2 TltE ZOOLOGIST. 



shepherds brought word that the Dotterel had come, and that he 

 had seen at early morning upwards of 200 in their favourite 

 marsh, that they were very tame, and he had ridden his horse 

 amongst them. Dotterel appear regularly every year early in 

 May in the same locality, but this year the number, seen at one 

 time, greatly exceeds anything I have known in this marsh 

 district, and more resembles the "big trips" recorded as occur- 

 ring in the olden days at the beginning of the century. 



In his recently published work ('Die Vogelwarte Helgoland'), 

 Mr. Gatke says the early arrivals of Dotterel in the spring are 

 males. Their present comparative scarcity as visitors to Heligo- 

 land is probably attributable to a change in the seasons. Thirty 

 years ago, when the weather was, as a rule, warm and fine in May, 

 light south-easterly winds prevailing, and often some rain in the 

 early morning, Dotterel on passage used to alight on the island ; 

 now that May is almost alwa}'s cold, with strong dry north winds, 

 these pretty harmless visitors do not appear so abundantly, 

 doubtless passing the island without alighting. 



Dotterel are very rarely seen or obtained on the east coast of 

 England during the autumn migration, and are then also com- 

 paratively strangers at Heligoland. 1882 was an exception : on 

 August 22nd a remarkable number passed the island, in spite of 

 westerly winds with rain ; and on Sept. 4th, with fine weather 

 and a very light north-easterly wind, and almost calm, so many 

 from east to west that one flock alone took five minutes in passing. 

 I have only once seen a Dotterel obtained in Lincolnshire early 

 in May in the plain winter plumage, without any appearance of a 

 seasonal change ; but this is quite an exceptional case, the May 

 visitors to our marshes being generally in full plumage or much 

 advanced. 



On May 12th I visited the large colony of Brown-headed Gulls 

 at the Twigmoor Ponds, near Brigg, in this county-. The number 

 which collect there is enormous, and cannot be well reckoned. 

 When the birds are disturbed and on the wing, the noise for the 

 time is deafening, and the almost solid-looking masses of hovering 

 and wheeling Gulls sufficient to obscure the sky, and to entirely 

 shut out the pale green surroundings of larch and birch, which 

 trees chiefly supply a dense background to their haunt. It is 

 curious to see numbers alighting on the tree-tops, and on com- 

 paratively very slender branches for so big a bird. After the 



