26 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
I have interrogated Mr. Ewen on the subject, and there is no 
room for doubt that the bird in question belonged to this species, 
namely, M. merganser. 
Woop-Pieron (Columba palumbus).—An uncommon resident, 
breeding sparingly in Holywell Dene. In autumn numbers of 
foreign birds arrive on the coast and pass inland. 
Strocx-Dove (C. enas).—I am informed by Mr. Hodgson that 
a bird of this species was shot near the Convalescent Home at 
Whitley Bay in 1906 and examined by him. 
Rocx-Dove (C. livia).—Authentic specimens have occasionally 
been obtained on migration, but much confusion is apt to arise 
owing to the fact that numbers of domesticated Pigeons frequent 
the coast. 
TurtLe-Dove (Turtur communis).—A very rare spring visi- 
tant. Mr. H. Coxon has in his collection an adult male shot on 
Seaton Burn (Holywell) on May 19th, 1888, which is the only 
record. : 
Paunas’s Sanp-GrovusE (Syrrhaptes paradoxus).—During the 
creat irruption of Sand-Grouse in the spring of 1888, a small 
flock of some seven or eight birds were observed on the sand- 
hills near St. Mary’s Island. This was on May 20th, and 
shortly before, about 10th, a party had arrived at Holy Island, 
further north, being the foremost of the great movement south 
along the coast. Mr. J. Ewen, who was then in residence on 
the island, went out and procured two males, which were after- 
wards very finely set up by Mr. R. Duncan. This flock remained 
for several days, but eventually passed on south.. In the ‘ New- 
castle Weekly Chronicle’ for June 28rd, 1888, Mr. R. Duncan 
recorded a female which was captured during a storm on board 
the steam-trawling boat ‘St. Oswin’ when at sea about forty 
miles off Tynemouth. This was early in June, and the bird 
lived for some time in an aviary in the Northumberland Park, 
North Shields. (The above is recorded by George Bolam in an 
excellent paper on the ‘‘ Irruption of Sand-Grouse in 1888 in 
Northumberland,’ ‘ Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club Trans- 
actions’). This bird laid two eggs in confinement shortly after 
its capture, one of which is in the collection of Herbert 
Coxon, Esq. 
Pueasant (Phasianus colchicus).—Sometimes one strays into 
