BONAPARTIAN GULL. 585 



mile above the lowest bridge at the town of Belfast, on the 

 1st of February, 1848. It was flying singly. The person 

 who shot the bird, attracted by its pretty appearance merely, 

 left it to be preserved with a taxidermist, who, on receipt of 

 any species either rare or unknown to him, was in the habit 

 of taking them to Mr. Thompson for his inspection. The 

 bird was therefore examined previous to its being skinned, 

 and exact measurements were made. Two less thoroughly 

 authenticated occurrences in Ireland are also recorded : the 

 former on the coast, about seventeen miles north of Dublin, 

 on the 14th February, 1855 (Zool. p. 4762) ; the other in 

 Dublin Bay in the month of July (Zool. s.s. p. 306), which, 

 j)rovided the identification was correct, is a remarkable time 

 of year for such a species to present itself. 



As regards the occurrence of Bonaparte's Gull in Scotland, 

 there is not the slightest doubt. About the end of April, 

 1850, Sir George H. Leith-Buchanan, Bart., shot a fine 

 adult specimen, a portrait of which was sent to the Author, 

 and clearly identified (Zool. pp. 3117, 3118) ; but as some 

 scepticism had recently been expressed in a standard work 

 on ornithology, Sir George sent the bird to the Editor, who 

 exhibited it before a meeting of the Zoological Society on the 

 4th of March, 1884. 



Three examples of this rare straggler have also been 

 obtained in England, and have been recorded by the late 

 Mr. E. H. Rodd, whose attention was drawn to the first of 

 them by Mr. Gould (Zool. p. 9501 ; B. Cornwall, p. 168). It 

 was shot in Falmouth Harbour on the 4th January, 1865, 

 having been observed for some hours by the captain of a 

 vessel, flying in company with a Herring Gull, and both 

 birds fell to the same discharge. The second specimen was 

 shot on the 10th of the same month near Penryn, by a son 

 of Mr. A. G. Copeland. The third, which is in the collec- 

 tion of Mr. F. Pershouse of Torquay, was shot by him 

 early in November, 1870, at St. Leonards, Sussex, and has 

 been fully identified by Mr. Cecil Smith (Zool. 1883, p. 120). 

 There is not as yet any authenticated record of the occur- 

 rence of this species on the coasts of the Continent. 



VOL. III. 4 F 



