io6 The Irish Naturalist. October, 



(Larus leiicopterus Faber) were in the collection ; but as 

 these species in immature plmnage are not uncommon in 

 Ireland, I do not think that it is necessary to record them 

 here. 



Great Skua. Stercorarius catarrhactes Linnaeus. 



1. " Skin. Female. September, 1864. In old ditch 

 Bank, Co. Wicklow. Not full mature. E. Hughes." 

 " Breeder." The label of this specimen is not in Blake 

 Knox's handwriting. It is now in my collection. 



2. Mounted specimen now in my collection. " Co. Mayo. 

 October. vStuffed by H. B. Knox. F. Bournes." ist. 

 Autumn. 



3. Mounted specimen now in my collection. " Skua, 

 adult, October, South Dublin Sea. Shot and stuffed, H. 

 B. Knox. 1281." 



So far as I know none of these specimens have been 

 previously recorded. Ussher, in the " Birds of Ireland," 

 only records nine specimens obtained and eleven others 

 observed in Ireland, of which none are from Wicklow. 

 Barrington, in his section of the British Association Hand- 

 book, 1908, on " The Birds of the Counties of Dublin and 

 Wicklow," does not give any records of this species for the 

 latter county. It is therefore probable that the first of the 

 above specimens is the first authentic occurrence of the 

 Great Skua in Wicklow. 



The three other Irish species of Skuas w-ere well repre- 

 sented in the collection. Indeed, for variety of plumage 

 and number of specimens the series of Skuas constituted 

 the most remarkable feature of the Blake Knox Collection. 



Black-throated Diver. Colynihiisarcticus Linnaeus. 



Ussher says, in the " Birds of Ireland " : — " The Black- 

 throated Diver is much the rarest of the three species in 

 Ireland, but it is probably of more frequent occurrence than 

 is supposed, for Mr. H. Blake Knox, who has devoted 

 special attention to the Divers, has met with it in several 

 instances on Dublin Bay." Two specimens were in the Knox 

 Collection. 



