Vol. xxiii.] 48 



Mr. H. F. WiTHERBY exhibited two examples of a Bull- 

 finch collected by Mr. R. B. Woosnam on the south coast of 

 the Caspian Sea. They were thought by him to represent 

 an undescribed form, which he proposed to name 



Pyrrhula pyrrhula caspicAj subsp. n. 



Adult male. Underparts much brighter and redder (less 

 pink) than in any other form of Pyrrhula, and in this 

 respect approaching P. p. rossikoivi, Meuzb., but even 

 brighter. The colouring of the upperside of a purer and 

 bluer grey than that of P. p. pyrrhula (Linn.). 



In size the bird is slightly larger than P. p. europaa, 

 Vieill., and considerably smaller than P. p. pyrrhula and 

 P. p. rossikowi. The wing in one specimen measures 

 87 and in the other 84 mm. 



No female examples of this species were obtained. 



Hab. South coast of the Caspian Sea. 



Type in the British Museum: S- 25.ii. 07. R. B. 

 Woosnam coll. Presented by Col. A. Bailward. 



Mr. WiTHERBY also exhibited a specimen of the Levan- 

 tine Shearwater {Puffinus yelkouanus (Acerbi)) obtained by 

 Mr. W. J. Clarke in the North Sea, some few miles off 

 Scarborough, on Sept. 4, 1908. Mr. Witherby remarked 

 that examples of this Shearwater had been obtained on 

 seventeen or eighteen occasions off the Yorkshire coast, 

 but only six times in any other part of the British Isles. 

 In 1907 Mr. Clarke obtained four specimens of P. yel- 

 kouanus and in 1908 three, all taken in September. 

 Mr. Clarke had found the birds by going from four to 

 eight miles out to sea in the dusk of the evening, as they 

 were never seen near the land except after a gale. These 

 facts seemed to point to the regular occurrence of this 

 Mediterranean species in British waters in the autumn, and 

 should this be proved it would form an interesting case of 

 a bird of the Northern Hemisphere migrating north in 

 autumn. (For details of the occurrences of P. yelkouanus, 

 compare 'British Birds' (Mag.), vol. ii. p. 206.) 



