158 ROTCHE. 
Meyer writes, ‘the incredible numbers of this species that 
hhave been seen by voyagers, on the surface of the northern 
seas, are very remarkable; it is said that they cover the 
surface of the water, and the floating masses of ice as far 
as the eye can discern, and when they take flight they actually 
darken the sky. This species is so entirely a sea-bird, that 
it is only seen on land, or in the immediate vicinity of the 
coast, during fhe breeding-season, and at other times hardly 
ever within fifteen or twenty miles from the shore. They 
appear not be very shy in their habits. 
Occasional specimens occur in hard winters on the coasts 
of Holland and France. 
This small sea-bird has, as just observed, in many instances 
been found inland after stormy weather. In Yorkshire, near 
Bridlington they occasionally occur in small flocks. One was 
taken alive in a farm-yard in the parish of Nafferton, after 
a severe snow-blast from the north and north-east, on the 
24th. of February, 1853, and brought to me. 
One, a male, was picked up in the town of Barnsley, in 
the West-Riding, on the 11th. of November, 1854. Three 
turned up at Whitby, during the first week in March, 1853. 
One at Harrogate, on the 10th. of January, 1854; one, 
October 21st., 1851, at Naburn, on the Ouse, below York, 
the ancient seat of the family of my friend, the Rev. 
William Lindsay Palmes, for six hundred years. In 1841, 
a large flight of these birds crossed the country near 
Doncaster, and many were found, some dead, and others 
alive. One near Hebden-Bridge, October 25th., 1834; about 
the same time one at Luddenden, near there. Several on 
Foss Island, near York. The species has also occurred at 
Copgrove, near Knaresborough, as mentioned to Montagu by 
the Rev. Mr. Dalton. Many off Redcar in 1841, as also all 
along the coasts of Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, 
Kent, and Sussex. i 
In Oxfordshire, one was caught at Salford, near Chipping 
Norton, in December, 1847; another had been found in an 
adjoining parish a few years previously. Several have been 
taken near Oxford. It has also occurred near Newbury, 
Berkshire. 
In Cornwall, one at Plymouth Hoe, in December, 1850; 
one at Pennance, December 19th., 1846; one in Bream Bay, 
March 7th., 1847; one also at Gwyllyn Vase. Also on the 
coast of Devonshire. Montagu records three killed in his 
