OCCASIONAL NOTES. 19 
seaward and flying north-west, many being driven inland by the force of the 
gale. Their numbers increased as the day wore on, until by dusk I am 
sure several thousands must have gone past, and at least a hundred and 
fifty were shot in this neighbourhood alone. I had twenty-three in the 
house at once; a birdstuffer at Marske, twenty-five; another at Middles- 
borough, about twenty; besides dozens which were shot and plucked for the 
sake of the feathers. Had the local gunners known the value of these 
Skuas, there would have been many more killed, for the birds were 
remarkably fearless, or rather, I should say, ignorant of the effects of the 
gun, flying within a few yards of the shooters who were stationed on the 
sandhills to the east of Redcar. I myself several times walked to within 
ten yards of birds sitting on the sands; they appeared perfectly unconcerned 
at my appearance, and only flew off when I almost touched them. These 
Skuas flew in small parties of from seven to twenty in number, and the 
majority of them were adult birds, their long tail-feathers and white breasts 
rendering them conspicuous and easily distinguishable from the dark- 
plumaged immature birds. Amongst the Pomatorhine Skuas which I 
obtained were two birds entirely black; the tail-feathers were about three 
inches long, legs black, and bills exactly similar to the old birds. Were 
these old or young birds? A few of Richardson’s species flew with the 
Pomatorhine Skuas, but not more than one in fifty. But a rarer bird than 
the Pomatorhine made its appearance on the 14th, in the shape of Buffon’s 
Skua: five adult specimens were shot between Marske and Redcar; and on 
the 15th I obtained a pair of adult birds in splendid plumage, their tail- 
feathers being especially beautiful; another, also adult, was shot opposite 
Redcar on the 16th. A great many Pomatorhine Skuas continued to pass 
on the 15th, and several more were shot. On the 16th I did not see any ; 
but on the 17th the gale freshened, and at the Tees-mouth I saw about 
fifty in small bands of seven or eight, and one adult bird was shot. Since 
that day I have not seen or heard of a single example, and it would seem 
that they have made their last appearance for the season. In whatever way 
this flight may be accounted for, it is certainly a most extraordinary 
occurrence, and one not likely to happen often. I should be glad if any of 
your readers can furnish some explanation of it—T. H. NEtson (Redcar). 
PoMATORHINE SkuAs IN SOMERSETSHIRE.—It may be worth while to 
record the appearance of several of these birds on our coast last autumn, 
for although tolerably common as autumnal visitors to the south coast ot 
Devon, especially about Torbay, they seldom make their appearance in this 
county. The first I heard of was on the 17th October, when I received 
one which had been killed at Weston-super-Mare on the same day. It was 
a fully adult bird—perhaps I ought to say an old bird, for the throat and 
breast were white, with only a few dark spots on the breast; the back of 
