OCCASIONAL NOTES. Ill 



Gannets' nests on the Bull only. There were full-grown hirds in adult 

 plumage — that is, white with black-tipped wings ; others younger, black 

 with white spots ; and others in various stages, down to very young birds in 

 the nest covered with white down. I found only a few addled eggs, very 

 dirty, but when washed of a dull white. The Gannets were in great 

 numbers, certainly many hundreds, and as they were flying about the 

 rock on all sides I could not attempt to count them. I could have captured 

 any number, and did bring on shore two young ones in the black and white 

 speckled plumage. I have heard that they breed on the Skelligs (as men- 

 tioned by Mr. Harting, in his ' Handbook of British Birds,' Introduction, 

 p. xxii), but not on the Cow or Calf. They could not nest on the Calf, as 

 the sea frequently washes over it in heavy weather, and 1 found no trace of 

 them on the Cow, though it would be a safe breeding-place. The Bull is 

 much higher than either. I found no other birds nesting at that time, 

 though I hear it is a favourite breeding-place for other kinds. The smell 

 was not pleasant, for when a bird was alarmed, or about to fly off the rock, 

 it disgorged the contents of its stomach — generally a Pilchard of ' an ancient 

 and fish-like smell.' * * * The Skelligs are about twenty miles N.N.W. 

 from the Bull. Cornish Choughs and Rock Pigeons are common on that 

 coast." The Gannets still continue to resort to the Bull for breeding. I have 

 seen an egg taken off that rock in 1880. Choughs breed and are rather 

 common at Three Castle Head, Dunmanus Bay (the next bay to the south 

 of Bantry Bay), and I have also seen them at Mizen Head. The sufferings 

 of the poor light-house men on the Calf Rock have lately attracted much 

 interest. It is gratifying to know that they are safe and sound at last, owing 

 to the heroic bravery of O'Shea, the Dursey islander.— Wm. W. Fleming 

 (Portlaw, Co. Waterford). 



On the Occurrence of Sabine's Gull, for the first time, in 

 Norfolk. — The gunners and dealers in Yarmouth were much exercised 

 last October (1881) by the appearance, on Breydon and its vicinity, of two 

 small gulls with slightly forked tails, which, when shot, answered to no 

 species with which they were acquainted. Others were said to have been 

 seen, but if, as I was informed, some Little Gulls, Larus minutes, appeared 

 at the same time, a doubt arises as to the identification of species, beyond 

 the two killed. One of these specimens, killed on the 21st or 22nd of 

 October, which I was fortunate enough to secure for my collection, was 

 sent to me in the flesh, and, being in immature plumage— as was also the 

 other bird obtained on the 17th of the same month— I should have had 

 some difficulty in identifying it but for the forked tail. In its adult state 

 Sabine's Gull was, of course, well known to me, and on turning to the 

 coloured representations of the young in Gould's ' Birds of Great Britain ' 

 and in Dresser's ' Birds of Europe,' I found my specimen most accurately 



