DITSKT SHEARWATER. 367 



similar instances of the capture of this species far inland 

 in that county. It is probable that the occurrence of 

 these ocean-loving birds in such unaccustomed localities 

 is involuntary on their part, and due to atmospheric 

 disturbances (possibly also to the prevalence of fogs), 

 which drive them from the element they rarely quit 

 except during the brief period devoted to nesting. 



PUFFINUS OBSCURUS (Gmelin). 

 DUSKY SHEARWATER. 



Mr. Stevenson contributed to the "Trans, of the 

 Norfolk and Norwich Nat. Soc," vol. iii., pp. 467 — 473, 

 a full account of the occurrence of this interesting bird 

 in the county of Norfolk, from which the following 

 narrative of the event is extracted : — 



" In the ' Zoologist ' for 1858 (p. 6096) I recorded the 

 appearance, far inland in this county, of a petrel, which 

 I felt little doubt at the time was an example of this rare 

 species (rare, at least, on the shores of Great Britain), 

 and which on examination recently, by the best author- 

 ities on these oceanic wanderers, has proved to be what 

 I first described it. 



" My original notes on this interesting bird may be 

 thus summarized. About the 10th of April of the above 

 year it was found dead by a gamekeeper on the Earsham 

 estate, situated close to the south-eastern boundary of 

 Norfolk, and within a mile of the well-known town of 

 Bungay in Suffolk.^ Captain Meade, who at that time 

 hired the hall and the shooting, brought the bird, in 

 the flesh, to the late Mr. John Sayer, birdstuffer, of 

 St. Giles', Norwich, who at once observed its marked 

 difference in size from any Manx shearwaters he had ever 

 seen. Being from home myself at the time, I did not 

 examine the'bird in a fresh state ; but I saw it within a 



* Its flight inland, therefore, from the coast would probably 

 have been between Lowestoft and Southwold. 



