143 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
Tae WHITE-BEAKED DoLpHtn.—On reference to the MS. of my note 
on this subject (p. 103), intended to correct an error of date iu a previous 
communication by Mr. J. M. Campbell (p. 42), I think you will find that I 
wrote “the Yarmouth specimen was landed on the 25th August, 1879, not 
1878 as stated in ‘The Zoologist’ for 1881, p. 42.” By an unfortunate 
printer's error I am made to say (p. 103), ‘‘the Yarmouth specimen was 
landed on the 25th August, 1878, not 1876, as stated,” &e. This is to be 
regretted, as making confusion worse confounded. Let me repeat, there- 
fore, as briefly as may be, that the Yarmouth specimen was landed on the 
25th August, 1879.—T. Sourawe x (Norwich). 
Rep-cresteD Duck 1n Co. Kerry.—A specimen of the Red-crested 
Whistling Duck (Fuligula rufina), was shot at Tralee by a local fowler on 
January 20th, 1881. I saw it skinned by Rohu, the Cork naturalist, and 
have the trachea, which exactly corresponds with “ Yarrell’s ” engraving. 
You will note that Thompson, in his admirable work on the ‘ Natural 
History of Ireland,’ states that he never heard of a specimen of this duck 
being obtained in Ireland; and till now I do not think it has ever been 
noted as a visitant to this country.—R. Payne Gatiwny (Cork). 
| The bird, which was exhibited by Mr. A. G. More at a meeting of the 
Zoological Society on March 15th, is undoubtedly a male Puligula rujina, 
concerning which Mr. R. J. Ussher has been good enough to send us some 
further particulars in the shape of a letter from the person who killed it, 
Mr. Victor M‘Cowen, of Tralee. He reports that he shot it on the 18th 
January, not the 20th, as above reported, early in the morning; that it 
was quite alone, and rose from a spring in a marshy field about a quarter of 
a mile from the town. The occurrence of this species as an occasional 
wanderer to the British Islands has been noticed on some sixteen different 
occasions in various parts of England since 1818, when it was first recorded 
as having been killed in Breydon Harbour, Norfolk. Only once has it been 
procured in Scotland, as reported by Mr. Gray in his ‘ Birds of the West 
of Scotland,’ and, until the occurrence of the example now before us, had 
not been met with in Ireland. Its occurrence so far westward as Tralee is 
remarkable, seeing that the bird is a native of South-Eastern Europe, North 
Africa, and Asia. In some parts of India it is particularly common. Mr. 
Lockwood, if we remember rightly, in his ‘ Natural History and Sport in 
India,’ gives a graphic description of the appearance of a flock of several 
hundreds of these birds as viewed at close quarters from a boat on an 
unfrequented reedy lake. When it is stated that the bill, eyes, and feet are 
