280 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 



I may here add that since the reading of this paper, it has been 

 stated in the Field of October 16th, 1880, by Mr. E. T. Booth of 

 Brighton, into whose possession one of these dark-coloured birds 

 fell, that it lived in confinement for upwards of five months, or 

 until early in April last, when it had to be destroyed owing to 

 swellings on its feet which caused it great apparent pain ; and he 

 further states the curious fact that by that time it had quite 

 assumed a different plumage, the dark colour of the throat, breast, 

 and under parts having changed to almost white, and light-coloured 

 feathers were also showing themselves round the neck. 



During the late autumn (1880) only one specimen, so far as I 

 can learn, was obtained in Scotland, and that, so early as August 10, 

 at North Berwick. Mr. T. H. Nelson, in the Zoologist (1880, p. 

 oil), however, records the occurrence of a flight of several hundreds 

 at Redcar, in Yorkshire, on 28th October, during the prevalence 

 of a heavy gale from the north-east. They were flying in a 

 westerly and north-westerly direction, but from the severity of the 

 storm, no specimens were obtained, shooting being impossible. 

 They were principally mature birds of the white-breasted variety, 

 only three or four dark-plumaged specimens being amongst them. 



Attention has been called by several writers in the Field during 

 last autumn to the fact of the Pomatorhine Skua carrying its tail 

 shut up like a fan when flying straight forward, swimming, or 

 standing on the ground, so much so, that only one single feather 

 was to be seen; and Mr. T. H. Nelson remarks further in the same 

 journal that he had observed, in several instances, when he " had 

 " shot a Skua, others came to the dead or wounded bird, and in 

 " their twistings and turnings while swooping round, continually 

 " opened and shut their tails much in the way which Terns do 

 " when fishing over a shoal of Sprats." 



II. — BarraHead and its Bird-Life. By Mr. George Maclachlan, 

 formerly Lighthouse-keeper there; with Notes by Mr. John A. 

 Harvie-Brown, F.R.S.E. 



Introduction. 



Barra or Barray, according to one reading, means — the island of the 

 point or extremity, from bar, a head or point, and ay or i, an island 

 [v. Robertson's "Gaelic Topography," p. 211, and "New Stat. 

 Acct.," vol. xiv., p. 198], and this appears to be the one usually 

 accepted. But other authors, as early as the days of Martin, 



