OCCASIONAL NOTES. 235 



Guernsey,' only notices one specimen, which was killed near St. Samson's, 

 in September, 187(5. The example to which I have now to refer was picked 

 up in St. Clement's Bay by a fisherman who was collecting Crustacea for me. 

 It was perfectly fresh and in adult plumage. — J. Sjnel (Bagot, Jersey). 



White-winged Black Tern at Scilly. — A specimen of this rare 

 Tern has lately been taken at Scilly, and is now with Mr. W. H. Vingoe 

 for preservation. So far as I can ascertain this is the first recorded 

 occasion of its capture either at Scilly or in Cornwall. — Thomas Cornish 

 (Penzance). 



Remains of the Great Auk. — The discovery of the remains of 

 the Great Auk, Alca impennis, in the Isle of Oronsay, off the coast of 

 Argyllshire, formed the subject of a paper by Mr. Symington Grieve, 

 read at a recent meeting of the Linnean Society. The purport of his 

 observations, which are of much interest to naturalists, will be found 

 briefly noted in our report, in the present number, of the meeting 

 referred to. In connection with this paper of Mr. Grieve 'a may be men- 

 tioned one by Dr. John Alexander Smith on the remaius of the Great Auk 

 discovered a few years since in Caithness. This very interesting memoir 

 will be found in the ' Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland ' 

 for 1879 (vol. xiii. pp. 76-105, and 436-444), and deserves to be read 

 in extenso by all who are curious on the subject of the former existence in 

 the British Islands of this now extinct sea-fowl. 



On the Food of Sea Fishes. — An investigation into the food of 

 sea-fishes is an indispensable preliminary to the framing of enactments 

 applicable to marine fisheries, for at the present time we have but few 

 established upon this all-important subject. On May 12th I received, in 

 spirit, from Mr. Dunn, of Mevagissey, in Cornwall, the contents of the 

 stomach of a single Herring captured there, with the remark that hundreds 

 having been opened contained the same food. I found nineteen small 

 Sand-lauuces, Ammodytes, varying from one and a half to two inches and a 

 half in length, while the intestines of these young fishes are of a bright 

 orange colour, due to the crustacean food they had been consuming. Last 

 mouth Mr. Dunn sent me, in spirit, the contents of the stomachs of several 

 Mackerel, which fish had appeared off Cornwall somewhat earlier this year 

 than is usual. The food consisted of young Shrimps. A few days subse- 

 quently the fishermen reported to Mr. Dunn numerous fry of fish out at 

 sea, too small to be captured by their nets. He proceeded to the locality 

 indicated, and obtained many small but adult Shrimps, which were identical 

 with those forming the Mackerels' food. I sent some to Mr. Norman, who 



