Vol. xiL] 26 



by Mr. Frank Finn of Calcutta; (b) that both the Duke 

 of Bedford and Mr. J. G. Millais had stated, in reply to his 

 enquiries on the subject, that they were not aware of any of 

 these birds having been turned out on artificial waters in 

 this country. 



Mr. Howard Saunders exhibited a specimen of the Sooty 

 Tern {Sterna fuliginosa) which had been caught alive, but in 

 an exhausted condition, on the 9th of October, 1901, in 

 a street in Hulme near Manchester. The bird was picked 

 up by a man while going his rounds of calling up people, 

 about five o'clock on the morning in question. 



Mr. E. Lort Phillips exhibited a specimen of the Carolina 

 Crake (Porzana Carolina) which he had shot in the island of 

 Tiree, when snipe-shooting with his brother-in-law, Mr. F. 

 Gunnis. This specimen appeared to be the third recorded 

 British example. The first was shot near Newbury, and was 

 exhibited by Professor Newton at a meeting of the Zoological 

 Society on the 14th of February, 1865. A second was men- 

 tioned as having been caught alive by a boy at the Low Water 

 Pier, Cardiff, in the spring of 1888, and is recorded in the 

 'Birds of Glamorgan' (p. 113). 



Mr. Robert H. Read exhibited a specimen of the Yellow- 

 billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) from Somersetshire, 

 which had been sent him for identification. It had been 

 obtained at Pylle, near Shepton Mallet, on October 6th, by 

 Mr. F. Dowling, who stated that he observed it in a hedge on 

 the outskirts of his wood and shot it on the wing. The bird 

 was in clean, newly-moulted plumage, bearing no traces of 

 confinement, and proved on dissection to be a female. Very 

 heavy westerly gales had prevailed during the two previous 

 days. This was the first recorded occurrence in Somersetshire, 

 although specimens had been obtained in recent years at 

 Lundy Island, Bridport, and Menai Straits, all in the month 

 of October. These birds had, as Mr. Howard Saunders 

 remarked, perhaps received ''assisted passages," yet the 



