756 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



of the Zoological Society on I2th July 1832 (P.Z.S. 1832, ii. 

 p. 128 ; Zool. 1883, p. 121. See also Allis's Report under 

 heading of Great Shearwater). Strickland's collection was 

 afterwards acquired by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, 

 and the specimen in question is now in their Museum at York. 



Until comparatively recently there was considerable con- 

 fusion existing between this and the preceding species, of 

 which it was considered to be the immature form ; there is 

 therefore great difficulty, without examination of specimens, 

 in disentangling the earlier records and assigning each to its 

 proper species ; the lapse of time has also tended to prevent 

 correct identification. 



This bird is now known to be a fairly regular visitant 

 to the Yorkshire coast in autumn and winter, but, like its 

 congeners, prefers the open sea to the propinquity of the 

 land. The famous Headland of Flamborough is the locality 

 most favoured by its visits, and at sea off that point it has 

 occurred in some seasons in large numbers. Mr. Matthew 

 Bailey, in the course of conversation with me at various times, 

 has told me that in autumn he has seen scores, and even 

 hundreds, in flocks off the Headland in a single day. In one 

 day, in the autumn of 1887, he secured three in the course of 

 a few minutes, and, if he had wished, could have killed a score. 

 In the year mentioned several specimens, two of which were 

 old birds, were brought in to Flamborough and Filey. In 

 the autumns of 1895 and 1904 also, the species was abundant 

 off Flamborough and Bridlington, where several examples 

 were captured, and from twenty to thirty others reported 

 as seen by the fishermen and boatmen. I have met with it 

 on one occasion only on the Cleveland coast, on I7th September 

 1883, a fine calm day ; it was resting on the water, and at 

 first I thought it was a Skua, but discovered my error on 

 handling the bird, which fought and scratched with its claws 

 as savagely as the Pomatorhine Skuas did in 1879. 



The history of the Sooty Shearwater in Yorkshire must 

 be read in conjunction with that of its congener, P. gravis ; 

 a list of Yorkshire examples is here appended, and if errors 

 have unfortunately crept in, the fault must be attributed to 



