236 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
the possession of Mr. Edward Stanley of Manchester. 
He informed us that it had been shot by his brother 
at Hoylake ‘about twenty years ago’—probably during 
the winter of 1872-73, when the bird was unusually 
plentiful on the coasts of Britain. 
KITTIWAKE. 
RISSA TRIDACTYLA (Linneeus). 
The nearest place to the Cheshire coast where the 
Kittiwake nests is the rocky headland of the Little 
Orme, but the bird is frequently met with round the 
shores of Wirral, being, naturally, most abundant in 
winter. Immature birds occasionally wander inland. 
We have seen them in the meadows near Sale, and on 
the canal near Northwich. One was shot on a pond 
at Rostherne in the summer of 1894, and Dr. Dobie 
mentions another from the Dee above Chester. 
FAMILY STERCORARIIDL. 
GREAT SKUA. 
MEGALESTRIS CATARRHACTES (Linnzus). 
Except in the breeding season, the Great Skua is 
seldom seen inshore, and the evidence of its occurrence 
in Cheshire is not very satisfactory. Byerley says that 
one was shot in the act of attacking some chickens at 
Bidston-cum-Ford,? and Brockholes thought that a Skua 
which he saw at New Ferry belonged to this species.* 
1 Dobie, op. cit. p. 345. 
? Byerley, op. cit. p. 23. 3 Brockholes, op. cit. p. 16. 
