i 3 4 THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



more than an accidental visitant on migration. 

 Pulteney states that in his day (a century ago) it 

 was not unfrequently to be seen in the neighbour- 

 hood of Poole. One was shot in Lytchett Bay in 

 June 1841 ; one on the Weymouth Backwater in 

 1846; one in Poole harbour, November 1848; and 

 one at Abbotsbury decoy in the autumn of 1872. 

 The last of which I have any note was an imma- 

 ture bird shot at Poole in October 1881. Mr. Pike 

 writes : " I have seen Spoonbills several times in 

 autumn about Poole harbour and the Corfe division 

 of the estuary. In spring also it is occasionally ob- 

 served. I remember one remaining about Wareham 

 Bay for several weeks. It used to try and associate 

 with the Herons, but its advances were often repulsed, 

 the Herons mobbing it and shrieking at it. Never- 

 theless on several occasions I saw it perched among 

 the high trees of the Arne Heroniy, with several 

 Herons close by ; its ivory-white plumage being very 

 conspicuous against the dark 'green of the fir-tops. 

 On the mud, at a little distance, it looked like a large 

 white Gull." 



GLOSSY IBIS, riecjadis falcinellus, (L.) 



Yarrcll, iv. p. 231 ; Dresser, vi. p. 335 ; Ibis List, p. 113 ; Ibis 

 falcinellus, Hart ing, p. 54; Seebohm, ii. p. 520. 



The Glossy Ibis is another accidental visitant, 

 which is occasionally met with in the autumn. One 

 was killed in Poole harbour in 1839; a male and 

 a female were shot in Lytchett Bay in August 1842. 



