RARER BIRDS OF GLAMORGANSHIRE. 167 
exceptional chances for the occurrence of some of our rarer 
marine birds. On the other hand Somerset possesses, in the 
Mendips and the Quantock range of hills, suitable places for such 
species, as, for instance the Golden Plover, to breed, and Mr. 
Smith mentions the fact that a few are said to do so in the wild 
country near Dunkery Beacon and Exmoor. 
In Glamorgan I have not been able to ascertain that the 
Golden Plover is more than a winter visitor, making its appearance 
in numbers varying with the severity of the weather. The Grey 
Plover is occasionally shot or seen on the coast in winter. 
After a great deal of correspondence with competent 
authorities on the subject, together with my own observations, I 
am able to claim for Glamorganshire no less than 218 species, 
being one more than the number given for Somersetshire by Mr. 
Smith when he published his book on the birds of that county. 
As an accidental visitor the White-tailed Eagle has occurred 
several times. I have records of nine such occurrences, only 
four of which, however, are in my opinion reliable. 
Two examples of the Goshawk, and three of that rapidly- 
decreasing bird the Kite have been obtained. In ‘ The Zoologist’ 
(1888, p. 188) will be found an interesting letter on the “* Kite in 
Glamorganshire,” received by me from Lord Aberdare. 
On the authority of the Rev. H. Morgan-Stratford, Rector of 
St. Athan, near Cowbridge (than whom no one 1s better acquainted 
with the avifauna of the county), I am able to include the Little 
Owl, a specimen of which was shot by him some few years ago, 
but unfortunately he has forgotten the date. 
The Eagle Owl is recorded as having occurred near Swansea, 
by Mr. Dillwyn, in his ‘Fauna and Flora of Swansea,’ and by 
Mr. Harting, in his ‘ Handbook of British Birds’ (1872, p. 95). 
Passing on from the Owls to the Shrikes, we have Pallas’s 
Shrike, Lanius major, a specimen of which (now in the Cardiff 
Museum) was obtained at Bridgend in April, 1881. 
There is next to be noticed the Great Grey Shrike, Lanius 
excubitor, which is only an irregular winter visitant; and then 
two of our summer visitors, namely, the Pied Flycatcher and the 
Golden Oriole. 
I have recorded in ‘ The Zoologist’ (1888, p. 229) that on the 
8th of May I obtained a male specimen of the Pied Flycatcher, 
and I believe it is the only authentie occurrence of the species in 
