42 A. C. CHAPMAN : BIRDS OF NORTHUMBERLAND COAST. 



pluvialls) come down to the coast. On August ist, 1870, we got 

 one on the beach near Hartlepool, and I always see a few pairs by 

 the * gut ' sides on the Holy Island slakes in August. They still utter 

 their well-known call-note, but are now generally very wild. 



Though Grey Plovers, both the old birds with black breasts, and 

 the young with the yellow-spotted backs, arrive during the month of 

 August, I have never come across one myself. September seems 

 to be the month for them, as well as for the Little Stints, when they 

 do occur. A good many Grey Plover remain during the winter, and 

 we have several times got them in January in very hard weather. 



The two species of Phalarope can only be considered as casual 

 visitors to our coast, and their occurrence is decidedly rare. In the 

 last report of the Migration Committee, both the Little and 

 Temminck's Stints are mentioned as occurring on the east coast 

 during September. They are, however, scarce, probably attributable 

 to the fact of their line of migration to their winter quarters in South- 

 Eastern Europe and Asia, lying far to the eastward of our coast. 



Flocks of young Mallard, Teal, and Shellduck {Tadorna cornutd) 

 also come into the tidal estuaries at this season. On August 18th, 

 1885, my brother found three Shellducks, the old female and two 

 young. He secured one young bird, the other, though so close at 

 hand as to induce him to try and catch it, dived and never reappeared! 

 The young at this age are white from chin to vent ; the eye is deep 

 hazel ; feet and legs, lead colour ; bill, flesh coloured, with a lead- 

 coloured nail. The only other ducks observed at this season are the 

 Eider (Somateria mollissimd) and the Shoveller {Spatula clypeata), 

 though it is not improbable that flocks of immature non-breeding 

 Scoters frequent the coast during the whole summer. The Shoveller 

 breeds annually near Holy Island. This year I was informed by the 

 fishermen that she laid ten eggs, ' rather paler coloured than those of 

 the partridge, and that the old duck was so tame that they could 

 catch her.' The nest appears to have been in a hayfield, some 500 yards 

 from a sheet of fresh-water, and I believe was never allowed to hatch. 



Another bird which appears in greater numbers some years than 

 others is Richardson's Skua. I got a dark-breasted female on August 

 1 2th, 1877, and on August i8th, 1885, I secured a pair of white- 

 breasted birds. They were both quite white from chin to vent, one of 

 them being slightly barred transversely on the flanks only ; the other 

 was barred right across the breast and underparts like a Sparrowhawk. 

 The central rectrices were worn at the ends, and the back and upper 

 parts were plain dark brown, the feathers being- without the pale 

 edgings of the young bird. This is, I think, a state of plumage but 

 seldom met with in this species. It is difficult to say what the 



Naturalist, 



