1892] The Antarctic Sheathbill. 375 



he had the pleasure of identifying one of the most un- 

 expected feathered visitors that ever turned up on the Irish 

 coast. A large white bird, with characters which at first 

 sight seemed intermediate between those of the Pigeons 

 and Plovers, was brought to him by Mr. Barrington, who 

 had received it from a lighthouse-keeper, and could hardly 

 say what to make of it. " It puzzled me completely/' Mr. 

 Barrington writes to the "Zoologist" (January, 1893); 

 " it was, however, recognized by my old friend, Mr. A. G. 

 More, as the Sheathbill, Chionis alba, of the Falkland 

 Islands and South Georgia." This first occurrence in 

 European waters of a nearly Antarctic bird was quite the 

 event of the season, for the Sheathbill's home was no less 

 than 7000 miles away: yet its plumage showed none of 

 those traces of recent captivity which inspection so com- 

 monly reveals in cases of unaccountable migration. In 

 February Mr. Barrington had the bird exhibited at a 

 meeting of the Zoological Society of London, where it was 

 received with much interest, but with considerable incre- 

 dulity also. The following two letters, however, show that 

 neither before nor after its exhibition did Mr. More quite 

 share the general scepticism on the subject of the Sheath- 

 bill. 



January 2$th, 1893. 



DEAR BARRINGTON, I have been expecting every day to see you 

 here ; that is why I have not written. You should take the Chionis 

 yourself to London, and exhibit it yourself at Zool. Soc. If you send it 

 they will all be trying to pick holes, and say " assisted passage," or 

 " brought in a cage," and so discredit the occurrence. For myself, I 

 see no great difficulty in the bird having flown over of itself. Suppose 

 that it followed the coast of South America up to the West Indies, and 

 then, from the Isles of the West Indies, it might easily cross. Finding 

 itself " lost," or out of its bearings, it might fly away at large, any- 

 where. 



(April jrd, 1893.} Did not I tell you how they would treat the 

 Barringtonian Red-faced Antarctic Sheathbill ? Cast every doubt upon 



it, as not being English ! Like Dr. 's Owl. But yours was not so 



long buried, so as to admit of mistake. Darwin, I think, in his Journal 

 speaks of the Sheathbill as occurring at long" distances at sea, and 

 remarks on this. You should just look this up, or am I to do it ? and 

 defend your bird. Why, if any bird has ever crossed unassisted from 

 America, this is the lad to do it. And we never used to hear so much 



