OCCASIONAL NOTES. 467 
foot. The same month a pair of Eider Ducks were killed by a fisherman — 
on the Ravenglass Estuary; I was told that they had got entangled in the 
fish-garth and were killed with a stick, and that they were a pair; but 
although I was on the spot the next day to secure them they were already 
plucked and roasted. On January 13th, 1881, the keeper put up a fine 
pair of Goosanders on Burnmoor Tarn; he brought down the drake, and 
fired at the duck, which escaped to Wastwater, only to be shot there next 
day by a farmer; both were sent to me, and are now in the collection of 
Mr. J. L. Burns-Lindow. On January 15th I saw a large flock of Geese 
off Seascale, but too far away for identification. An enormous number of 
Widgeon frequented the mouth of the Irt last winter; and on January 25th 
a flock of seven Brent Geese appeared, one of which was shot. On the 
26th a young male Goldeneye was killed on the Irt above Santon, being 
much higher up the river than I have ever known one before; it was a 
solitary bird. On the 29th four Brent Geese were seen off Seascale, and 
the next day one was sent to me which I believe was killed on the Irt ; 
these Geese are not often seen here. Between January 28rd and February 
2nd great numbers of Shelldrakes arrived. On February 8rd two Brents 
were seen on the Irt in company with Widgeon; the keeper stalked them, 
having got a rise, and killed one of the geese with his first barrel, and two 
Widgeon with his second. On the 8th, during hard frost a farm lad 
surprised a Scoter in a ditch near Seascale Hall, and killed it with a stone; 
it was an adult, and fat. On February 15th I noticed five mature Great 
Black-backed Gulls on the shore at Seascale, and again on the next day; 
these mature birds are uncommon here, though the young are common 
enough. On March 22nd I saw a large flock of Black-headed Gulls for the 
first time this year. On August 23rd we had a violent storm, which 
wrecked two vessels on our shore, and on going down to see these, I picked 
up a Manx Shearwater still alive; the web between the toes of the right 
foot was distended with fluid so as to form a lump as large as a small walnut ; 
I punctured this and let the fluid escape, which evidently relieved the poor 
thing, but it died next day in spite of care. On August 27th some one sent 
me by post a Sparrow very curiously mottled with white—CHarimus A. 
Parker (Gosforth, Carnforth). 
OrniTHoLocicaL NorEs rrom Dusiin.—A fine specimen of the Osprey, 
Pandion haliaétus, fell to the gun of Mr. W. Williams, jun., at Clontarf. 
The bird had been observed inland at Dundrum, five miles south of the 
city, towards the end of October, flying about mobbed by Rooks, and a few 
days afterwards it made its appearance at Clontarf, on the shore of the bay, 
about a mile and a half from the Dublin Post-Office in a northerly direction. 
Mr. Williams, who was out shooting early in the morning, noticed it slowly 
hovering over a stream intersecting the sands, looking for fish ; occasionally 
