BIRDS 



' Mr. Flinn, of Worcester, killed a very fine 

 specimen, after a desperate resistance, in a 

 field near the Dog and Duck, at Henwick, 

 where it had flown out of the Severn, in 

 January, 1833. This specimen is now in 

 the Society's Museum.' The same authority 

 mentions the Teme and the Avon as rivers on 

 which the bird has been met with. Nothing 

 additional is given by Lees, though it is in- 

 cluded by him in the Malvern list. My own 

 knowledge of this as a Worcestershire bird is 

 confined to such as I have seen pass over. It 

 regularly frequents Lundy Island, and may 

 generally be seen in the Severn estuary where 

 it is known as the salmon gull. 



192. Lesser Black-backed Gull. Larus fuscm, 



Linn. 

 In the winter when the low-lying lands ad- 

 joining the Severn are flooded, small flocks of 

 gulls generally come up from the Severn es- 

 tuary. Among them are often specimens of 

 this gull. Mr. Willis Bund informs me he 

 has on one or two occasions shot examples. 



193. Kittiwake. Rissa tridactyla (Linn.). 

 The kittiwake is an occasional visitor to 



our county, frequenting our rivers or other 

 waters, and never, so far as my observation 

 has gone, having recourse to the open fields. 



194. Arctic or Richardson's Skua. Stercora- 



rius crepidatus (Gmelin). 

 Three instances of the occurrence of this 

 bird in Worcestershire may be mentioned. 

 Morris, in his work on British birds, records 

 one which was met with on the Severn, near 

 Worcester, early in November, 1 846 ; and I 

 have seen and examined a preserved specimen 

 of one shot while resting in the middle of a 

 field at a place called Hoden, in the parish of 

 Cleeve Prior, during the partridge shooting 

 some years since. The third was killed on 

 September 28th, 1899, at Hampton, near 

 Evesham, as I am informed by Mr. T. E. 

 Doeg of Evesham, to whom the specimen 

 was brought when killed. It was an immature 

 bird, as was also the one shot near Cleeve 

 Prior. 



195. Little Auk. Mergulm alle (Linn.). 

 This small sea bird has not unfrequently 



been taken up in Worcestershire and the 

 adjoining counties in a state of exhaustion or 

 dead, chiefly after heavy gales from the south- 

 west. All the specimens examined have been 

 in winter plumage, excepting one in breeding 

 plumage taken up dead at Great Alne near 

 Alcester, Warwickshire, of which I have not 

 the date. 



196. Puffin. Fratercula arctica (Linn.). 

 Like the last species the puffin appears only 



as a storm-driven victim, and is rarely found 

 in Worcestershire excepting dead or exhausted. 

 All those which I have had the opportunity 

 of examining have been in immature plumage, 

 and with the beak not fully developed. It 

 breeds in numbers on Lundy Island. 



197. Great Northern Diver. Colymbus 



glacialis, Linn. 

 Hastings records two occurrences of this 

 fine bird in the county of Worcester, namely, 

 one on the large sheet of water in Westwood 

 Park in 1821, and another which was shot 

 on the Severn in December, 1827. There is a 

 specimen in the Worcester Museum which is 

 labelled as having been killed on the Severn 

 in close proximity to that city, which may be 

 the one killed in 1827. I have known one 

 shot on the Avon near Stratford. 



198. Red-throated Diver. Colymbus septen- 



triona/is, Linn. 

 This species has occurred in Worcestershire 

 too frequently to require a detailed statement 

 of each appearance. In nearly every instance 

 it has been a visitor to the Severn or its 

 tributaries, and in immature plumage. Once 

 only has it been known to occur in adult dress 

 in the valley of the Avon, namely, in Novem- 

 ber, 1858, when one was found in a state of 

 exhaustion by the side of the road between 

 Stratford-on-Avon and the village of Loxley. 



199. Great-crested Grebe. Podicipes cristatus 



(Linn.). 

 There are but few recorded instances of the 

 appearance of this bird in the county. A 

 specimen in full summer plumage in the 

 Worcester Museum is recorded as having been 

 taken at the Camp, near Worcester ; and an- 

 other in the same collection, also in summer 

 plumage, was shot at Woodhampton. A third, 

 in similar plumage, was killed on the Severn 

 at Kempsey, and is now in the writer's col- 

 lection. About 1870 an immature bird of 

 this species was taken on the Cofton reservoir, 

 near Barnt Green. 



200. Red-necked Grebe. Podicipes griseigena 



(Boddaert). 

 Hastings records two specimens of the red- 

 necked grebe, on the authority of Mrs. Perrott, 

 one being shot on the Severn, and the other 

 on the Avon. Both were in the collection of 

 H. E. Strickland, Esq., then living at Cra- 

 combe, near Fladbury. A bird of this species 

 was shot on the Severn, at the Pitchcroft, 

 Worcester, in the winter of 1886-87 or 

 1887-88, and was brought to Mr. HoUoway 



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