499 



dead, inland, after a gale, at East Bradenham, on the 21st of November, 1864. Since that date 

 my notes show the following repeated occurrences : — 



" 1867. One at Yarmouth, on the 6th of July, as recorded at the time (July 13th) in ' The 

 Field,' — a strange date for such a bird. One, November 14th, female ; one, December 2nd, 

 male; one, December 2nd, male; one, December 7th, male; one, December 14th, female; one, 

 December 9th: all shot at, or near, King's Lynn, with many of the Storm-Petrels at the same 

 time. Eecords in ' The Field ' of one at Colchester, and one at Spalding, about same date. 



" 1868. One at Babingley, near King's Lynn, December 19th. 



" 1869. One shot on the river Bure, near Yarmouth, October 26th. 



" 1870. One at Gooderstone, near Lynn, the first week in January. 



" 1871. One, on good authority, said to have been seen at Lynn, in February." 



According to Mr. Cordeaux (Birds of Humber Distr. p. 212) two were recorded from near 

 Spalding, in December 1867, by Mr. J. W. Harrison, and one was taken near Bentley wood, 

 about two miles from Beverley, in the autumn of 1854. Writing on its occurrence on the coasts 

 of Scotland, Mr. Robert Gray says (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 506) that he has " obtained specimens 

 from Benbecula, Barra, Skye, Bum, Eigg, and Canna, also from various districts on the Firth of 

 Clyde, and as far up as Dunoon and Boseneath. Numerous specimens occurred on the west 

 coast in the winters of 1863, 1864, 1865, 1867, and 1868. They are met with, in fact, almost 

 every season, and chiefly in the months of November and December. I only know of two 

 specimens that have occurred in the east of Scotland ; one of these, obtained in Caithness-shire, 

 is now in the collection of the late Mr. Sinclair, of Wick ; the other, which is now before me, 

 was found in an exhausted state on the Loch of Forfar in the winter of 1868." It breeds at 

 St. Kilda, and, according to Mr. A. G. More (Ibis, 1865, p. 458), Mr. J. H. Dunn marks it as 

 having formerly nested in Orkney ; but the bird is not mentioned in the ' Fauna Orcadensis,' nor 

 in the more recent work of Messrs. Baikie and Heddle. Mr. Dunbar includes it in his ' List of 

 the Birds of Boss-shire,' but without mention of the locality. It has been met with in Ireland, 

 and, according to Thompson (B. of Irel. iii. p. 415), " is of occasional occurrence in all quarters 

 of the island. Those obtained in the north shall first be noticed. In the winter of 1831, a 

 specimen was found dead, but in excellent condition and plumage, near Lisburn. During a 

 storm in the winter of 1833-34, one was sprung from a bog near Downpatrick, and shot, the 

 fowler imagining from the forked tail that it was some kind of Swallow. In August 1843, the 

 gamekeeper at Tollymore Park informed me that about ten years before that time he found one 

 of these birds lying dead in ' a hollow' among the mountains of Mourne. One shot on the 16th 

 of December, 1834, at Conswater Point, Belfast Bay, about a mile from the town, came into my 

 possession; and on the 10th of April, 1838, 1 obtained a recent bird, which was found dead near 

 Waringtown, county of Down. There is considerable difference in the size of these two speci- 

 mens, as well as slight differences in plumage ; the former is 8j- inches in length, the latter 7\, 

 the size of the individual described in Yarrell's work. Mr. H. N. Dombrain, one day in September 

 1836, when in a revenue cruiser off Arranmore, coast of Donegal, saw altogether about a dozen 

 of these birds, two of which occasionally appeared at a time. 



" On the 16th of December, 1831, two Forked-tailed Petrels were received in a fresh state, 

 from the county of Tipperary, by Dr. R. Graves, in whose collection I subsequently saw them : 



