214 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



interesting specimens in my Northamptonshire 

 collection. 



In January 1888 I was informed by a letter from 

 Mr. C. F. Dyer, formerly resident in Irthlingborough, 

 of the occurrence of a " Cormorant " in that neigh- 

 bourhood in the previous autumn ; at my request the 

 Rev. H. H. Slater, of Irchester Vicarage, was kind 

 enough to make enquiries concerning this bird, and 

 on February 21, 1888, wrote to me thus: — "I went 

 to Rushden and hunted up Mrs. Allen, who allowed 

 me to examine the bird as far as possible, considering 

 that it was in a case. It is a young Shag, the top 

 of the head and neck, and especially the primaries, 

 having in some degree their bottle-green sheen. . . . 

 Mrs. Allen informed me that she thought another 

 was caught at the same time, and after some 

 enquiries I came upon the owner, who had an exactly 

 similar specimen ; his wife informed me that it was 

 on a Sunday about the middle of August last, 

 probably the 21st, as they were standing at their 

 door (which is in a new street) watching some 

 Pigeons, when two curious birds came flopping down 

 between two of the unfinished houses opposite ; he 

 went and collared one, and young Allen the other ; he 

 kept his for three days and fed it upon worms, the 

 former one was stuffed at Irthlingborough." This 

 occurrence is only one of several that have been 

 communicated to me as of " Cormorant," and proved 

 to refer to the present species. On September ord, 

 1892, I received an immature Shag alive from 

 Mr. Shelton of Higham Ferrers, who informed me 

 that it had been picked up a day or two previously 

 near that place ; another young bird of this species 

 was caught at Stanground, near Peterborough, on 



