170 BRITISH BIRDS. 



A few pairs of Lesser Terns breed at the same spot, and at 

 least one instance of this same phase occurred in Sterna 

 minuia. Clifford Borrer. 



INCREASE OF GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS 

 IN IRELAND. 



In connexion with the cases cited {antea, p. 140) in which the 

 Great Black- backed Gull {Larus marinus) has bred on inland 

 lakes, I may mention that the increase of this species on the 

 Irish coast is most remarkable. I have been twice round 

 the Mayo coast during the past summer, and found the Great 

 Black-backed Gull everywhere a common bird. On the 

 Bills of Achill, Messrs. Praeger and Welch estimated last year, 

 1910, that they found one hundred pairs, while twenty years 

 earlier, when I visited the Bills, I computed them at fifty 

 pairs. Their increase on the coasts of Waterford and Wexford 

 is also remarkable, quite a considerable number breeding on 

 an island where about three pairs bred thirty years ago. On 

 the sands off Dungarvan Bay I usually see several of these 

 birds where they used to be quite scarce and remarkable. 



R. J. USSHER. 



ARCTIC AND POMATORHINE SKUAS AND SABINE'S 

 GULLS IN YORKSHIRE. 



The Yorkshire coast has recently been visited by one of those 

 interesting irruptions of Skuas which occur at intervals, and 

 are accounted for by severe storms driving the birds in-shore 

 during their autumnal migration (c/., Birds of Yorks., Vol. 

 II., p. 699). On September 30th, 1911, a gale from the north- 

 east suddenly sprang up about six o'clock, continuing to 

 blow strongly all the morning, and accompanied by heavy 

 rain-squalls. Between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. numbers of 

 Skuas, both Arctic {Stercorarius crepidatus) and Pomatorhine 

 {S. pomatorhinus) , estimated at about two hundred, in parties 

 of from five to twelve, were observed flying north-westward, 

 low down, along the shore, and crossing the breakwater into 

 the Teesmouth. In the afternoon the wind veered to north- 

 west, and although the flight continued, it w as less pronounced 

 than in the morning, and the birds kept oustide the breakers. 

 Those that were identified were all mature individuals. 



During the storm on the morning of September 30th, two 

 immature Sabine's Gulls {Xema sabinii) were seen sitting on 

 the sands, and in the afternoon a Grey Phalarope {Phalaropus 

 fuUcarius) and another Sabine's Gull were reported. 



T. H. Nelson. 



