Vol. xix.] 58 



another at Rye, Sussex, on Feb. 16, and that others have 

 been seen. 



" The weather during the previous week had been very 

 cold. 



" On Jan. 23 there was an easterly gale, a most unusual 

 thing at that time of year, and the following days were cold 

 with north and north-east winds. Tiie wind blew strongly 

 from the south-east on the 28th, but was back again in the 

 north and north-east on the 30tli and 31st. 



*'The first record of this bird in Western Europe seems to 

 have been in Belgium, for M. Alphonse Dubois writes that 

 in March 1850 his father found one (captured out of a flock) 

 in the Brussels market ; next, one was taken in 1852 near 

 Antwerp ; and again, in the same district, about a dozen 

 were taken between 1880 and 1885, two of which are in a 

 private collection. On Heligoland, as recorded by Gatke, 

 a female was obtained on April 27th, 1874, and a male on 

 July 27th, 1892. Near Grimmen, in Pomerania, as well 

 as in Lower Austria, examples are said to have been taken. 



"This species inhabits the Steppes of Southern Russia, 

 Transcaspia, and Western Siberia. Its occurrence so far 

 west is comparable to the occurrence of Melanocorypha 

 sihirica in Kent in Jan. 1902. I would suggest that this 

 flock of Black Larks migrated in front of the wave of 

 very cold weather, which spread westward over Europe in 

 January, and that, after striking the Kent and Sussex coasts, 

 they scattered, settling in suitable localities. It is quite 

 possible we may hear of some having occurred elsewhere on 

 our coasts or in other parts of Westei-n Europe.'^ 



In congratulating Mr. C. B. Ticehurst on the acquisition 

 of these specimens, Mr. Howard Saunders remarked that 

 for some years he had been expecting the Black Lark as an 

 addition to the list of wanderers to the British Islands. He 

 proceeded to point out that after being treated somewhat 

 vicariously as compared with districts to the north of 

 Sufiblk, the south-east and south of England had been 

 closely watched of late years by observers such as 



