'^^^■.l (io/rral \i>/rs. 



91 



Pcrliaps this may seem strani^c. liut in all niv experience in tliis section 

 1 have sL'LMi Imt very few of these liircis. ] jiave Iieard them many times, 

 after nightfall, but previous to last week never shot but one. My first I shot 

 out of a flock of about a dozen, two years ago, but a little later than this 

 date; and last week in one day I shot seven. We were camped on Wall 

 Lake, not far from Sioux Falls, and as I walked along the water's edge, 

 they would fly out over the water giving me an excellent shot. 



A couple being wounded started back to shore by swimming, and that 

 quite rapidly, until met by my retriever, [who, in turn, was pecked at sav- 

 agely by the w^ounded birds. All that I shot were young ones. In the 

 evening, when the sun was about an hour high, a flock of some twentv 

 came from the high prairie north of the lake, and flew directly over it, 

 going to the south and disappearing, still upon wing. In this flock were 

 a few old ones. Of those seen during the d^y around the lake, none were 

 old ones, and the number must have reached eighteen or twenty. At 

 night, we were greeted by the same squawk I had heard in the fall of 

 iSSi, 140 miles west of Winnepeg ; in 1S80, at Skunk Lakes, in Dakota ; 

 in 1880, near this citv ; and last spring, some eight miles from 

 this city. At the latter place I saw two, and one was shot by a friend 

 and brought to me for identification, having first been examined bv a 

 majoi-ity of our best hunters, none of whom had ever seen the bird before. 



Dr. Coues, I believe, did not meet with this bird in this (Missouri) 

 region, except in the Red River country, and since I have only found 

 it as above stated, I do not think the bird is common in this section. 



By the way, Porzana Carolina is getting quite common ; in going up 

 the Vermillion River bottorns last week I saw a great many of them. Last 

 spring I saw four Red-breasted Rails {If alius elegans.^), and one was shot 

 and presented to me. Thus far I have not seen or heard of any others. 

 — D. H. Talbot, Sioux City, la. 



Occurrence of the Royal Tern (Ster/ui regia Gamb.) at Tangiers in 

 Morocco. — This species, which has been previously recorded in Irb3''s 

 'Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar,'* as having been onee obtained 

 at Tangiers by M. Favier, a French collector, formerly resident there, 

 has again occurred at that place, two specimens, both males — one a bird 

 of the year and the other nearly mature — ■ killed in the Bay of Tangiers 

 on loth December last, having been recently sent me. The former is still 

 in vax possession and the latter is now in that of Mr. Howard Saunders of 

 London. These specimens, along with thirteen others, were killed from 

 a flock of about thirty, by a resident naturalist, all being shot from a boat 

 without moving from one spot. This Tern has not been observed in 

 Europe, but has occurred several times on the Gold Coast of Africa, 

 chiefly in spring. — ^John J. Dalgleish, Edinburgh. Scotland. 



Buffon's Skua in Western Vermont. — I have lately examined a specimen 

 of Stercorarius buffo7ii which was shot at West Castleton, ^'ermont, in 



* There recorded in error as 5. bergii. Vide P. Z. S. Lond., 1876, p. 655. 



