THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 183 



month of October (Zool. 1868. p. 1295. 1876. p. 

 4794), an adult female was caught exhausted on a 

 trawler off Plymouth, taken aUve to Rogers, a 

 birdstuffer, and sent by Gatcombe to Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney. In February, 1869, " one of these fine 

 birds was shot near Berry Head," writes Baron A. 

 von Hiigel (Zool. 1869. p. 1720). In 1874, we find 

 Gatcombe writing; " After an almost entire absence 

 for many years, I am glad to say that the Greater 

 Shearwater, or " hackbolt," has again visited the 

 coasts of Devon and Cornwall in some numbers, as 

 I had the pleasure of examining three specimens, 

 in the flesh, obtained off Plymouth on the 6th of 

 November, and the next day two more, out of four 

 that were captured off Penzance " (Zool. 1874. p. 

 4262). A month later he writes ; " Since my 

 recent note on the occurrence of the Greater 

 Shearwater off the Coasts of Devon and Cornwall, 

 I have been informed that, the gentleman who shot 

 two or three from his yacht, and brought them to 

 Plymouth for the purpose of having their skins 

 made into screens, said that off the Start Point, 

 there were hundreds of them, and that he could 

 have killed any number had he only known they 

 were at all rare or of an}^ value whatever. Although 

 I have made every inquiry, on account of the many 

 letters I have received from ornithological friends 

 residing in various parts of the Country, begging 

 me to secure specimens for their collections, yet I 

 can not learn of any more having been since 



