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station between us and the pup. As soon as the dinghy was launch- ed, she made a most determined attack on it and actually bit the rear end of one of the floats. With great difficulty she was held off with oars. We were more glad than usual when the outboard motor started. Seldom had any of those present seen a grey seal show such reluctance to be parted from its pup. The return to the land from the sea to launch an attack on clearly identified human in- truders is absolutely contrary to all my experience, whenever disturbed there appears to be a near all-compelling urge to reach the sea. R. M. Lockley, however, has since told me of a similar experience he had with a cow seal on Ramsey Island (pers. comm.) which came out of the sea to attack him as he was ring-marking her pup. But I know of no report of an attack on a boat by a grey seal. REFERENCES BOYD, J. M., LOCKIE, D. J., and HEWER, H. R. (1962). The breeding colony of grey seals on N. Rona 1959. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 138 257-77. FRASER DARLING, F. (1939). A Naturalist on Rona. Oxford. FRASER DARLING, F. and BOYD, J. M. (1964). The Highlands and Islands. London. HEWER, H. R. (1957). A Hebridean colony of the grey seal, Halichoerus grypus with comparative notes on the grey seals of Ramsey Island, Pembrokeshire. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 134 157-95. (1960). Behaviour of the grey seal Halichoerus grypus in the breeding season. Mammalia 24 400-21. (1962). Grey Seals. London. LOCKLEY, R. M. (1966). Grey Seal, Common Seal. London. MATTHEWS, L. H. (1952). British Mammals. London. THE DISTRIBUTION OF SAND MARTINS ON THE RIVER USK By ALAN E. F. ROGERS and LESLIE N. GAULT During 1964 it was decided, as a contribution to the Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) enquiry organised by the British Trust for Ornithology, to ring as many birds of this species as possible in the area around Newport, Monmouthshire. Preliminary surveys quickly revealed that the River Usk held a high population and consequently almost all our effort was concentrated there. This enquiry was continued in 1965 when considerable stretches of the river were walked to locate further colonies. In this way a more complete coverage was achieved and most colonies with more than 20, holes and all of those with more than 30, between Abergavenny and the sea were worked. The large number of colonies found in this area prompted the thought that the upper reaches of the Usk might also support a large Sand Martin population. This led to a survey, supplementary to the ringing programme, to estimate as accurately as possible the