VOL. IX.] NOTES. L*:.:; 



were hundreds of Common Scoter, Guillemots, and other birds 

 in various stages of incapacity owing to the oil. Some were 

 dead, manj^ had apparently little oil on them, but made no 

 attempt to ^y, while others were lying on the beach unalile 

 to get up at all. One curious thing about the severe cases 

 has not been previously mentioned in the various accounts 

 I have seen, viz., the effect of the oil upon the skin and feet 

 of the birds. Upon removing the skin the oil seems to have 

 penetrated to the flesh beneath, which is very moist, and 

 decidedly oily. Regarding the feet, these are not affected 

 whilst the birds remain at sea, as the oil is in a very thin layer 

 on the surface, and the feet keep below this, but when the 

 birds get into very shallow water in wading ashore, and also 

 on the beach, which was covered in some places to the dejith 

 of half an inch, the feet become completely coated. The 

 result is they soon begin to swell, and this goes on to such 

 an extent that they crack and burst. Some that I examined 

 were of an enormous size. Why these birds come ashore in 

 such vast numbers in calm weather is no doubt due to the 

 irritating effects of the oil, and the motive is to get ashore 

 and on to the marshes with the idea of finding fresh water. 

 I should like to thank Mr. Austin (the authorised watcher) of 

 Lydd, on behalf of all interested in birds, for the trouble he 

 has taken in putting some hundreds of these suffering hirds 

 out of their miser}^, and also making it clear to the fisher-folk 

 all around that it was their duty to save the birds from a death 

 by slow starvation. 



The King- Eider was quite dead when found, and I should 

 imagine that it had died at sea, as the whole of the body, 

 including the head, was covered with oil, showing that it had 

 been pitching about on the surface of the sea. 



After a considerable amoimt of cleaning the oil was remo\ ed, 

 and the yellowish-brown breast ^^as disclosed, which A^as 

 spotted and barred with black. The anterior point of the 

 feathering on the fore-head, which reached to the nostrils, 

 removed all doubt as to the identity. 



H. W. Ford -Lindsay. 



THE IRISH EXAMPLE OF THE MADEIRAN LITTLE 

 SHEARWATER. 



Acting on Mr. Witherbj^'s suggestion {antea, p. 203) I have 

 examined the Little Shearwater obtained in Ireland on May 

 6th, 1853, and now exhibited in the Dublin Museum. 



The following characters — under-surface, including the 

 under tail-coveits, of a pure white, which extends over the 

 lower part of the lores, and o\iter portion of the inner web 



