9692 Birds. 



frequenting the rocks of the coast their food is mussels, limpets, 

 and the green crab ; for this latter food I have seen ihera dive 

 frequently into the ponds in which this coast abounds. The sand- 

 piper likewise, 1 am convinced, dives for food — the small fresh- 

 water Molhisca, &c. One bird only, pinioned, after being about an 

 hour in the boat vomited up a quantity of njinute periwinkle-shells, 

 the fish being digested liom them. To judge by the immense amount 

 of feathers on the rocks, the moult must be very vapid, for each tide 

 must wash them clean. 



Some cormorants and shags were perched on the sign-posts of this 

 wall. 



Saw one great shearwater {Pujffiiius viajor). 



Herring gulls, lesser blatkbacked gulls, kittiwakes and common 

 gulls (young) abundant. Saw a iew great blackbacked gulls. 



Met with a gannet so gorged with sand-eels that he could neither 

 swim nor fly. Ou shaking him, head downwards, some thousands (the 

 full of a three-quart can) came from the throat alone. If he caught each 

 separately he must have had a busy morning, for they were small fry ; 

 I never thought before that they fed upon fry. In the mackerel time 

 we often see them so gorged that they cannot fly ; then is the only 

 chance for shooting them, as they are particularly wary, in Dublin 

 Bay, of a row-boat. 



A razorbilled auk (adult) still in full winter plumage ; black feathers 

 were sprouting underneath. 



H. Blake-Knox. 



Dalkey, April 25, 1865. 



Errata. — On account of the hurried manner in which I wrote my " Ornitliological 

 Notes" (Zool.9610), I liml that tlie printer lias made several small, thdu^h important, 

 mistakes: if ibe fault is on my S'itle I am very sony. Zool. 9()10, line IT), for ''July 

 feather," read " fully feather," meaning birds not in n)oult. Page 9612, line 28, read 

 " gau— a— eee," not " gan— a— ece." Page 9613, line 38, read " If tlie bill," not " If 

 the bird." Page 9614, line 25, read "To look at the feet," not " To look at the lip." 

 Page 9615, line 15, " the bill," not " the bird." Pa^e 9616, 7th line from end, read 

 " that all birds in the old year," not " one year" (meaning winter birds before the new 

 year).— ^. Blake-Knox. 



Notes on some of the Rarer British Birds, (&c.,seen on the Continent. 



By John Gatcombe, Esq. 



On the 15th of October last I started with a friend for the Continent, 

 and a most delightful trip we had, passing through France into Swit- 

 zerland, and over the Alps into Italy, as far as Milan and Turin, taking 



