2592 Birds. 



posed they roosted on the ground. — F. O. Morris ; Nafferton Vicarage, Driffield, 

 September 20, 1849. 



[I believe the circumstance here mentioned is not uncommon. — Edward Newman]. 



Occurrence of the Pelican in France. — Un fait curieux est signale par M. Gelle, 

 cure de Guitres (Gironde) ; c'est Papparition en France du Pelican. Buffon n'a men- 

 tionne que deux oiseaux de cette espece qui ont ete vus de son temps dans notre pays, 

 l'un dans la Dauphine, l'autre sur les bords de la Saone. Cette fois, les habitants de 

 Sainte-Martin-en-Laye, canton de Guitres, en ont apperc^u cinq qui ont mis en emoi 

 tous les habitants de la contree. On leur donna la chasse, mais un seul fut tue. 

 Les autres continuerent leur voyage j usque dans la Charente-Inferieure, ou un second 

 a ete atteint. " Ces deux enormes oiseaux," dit le cure de Guitres, " ornent mon ca- 

 binet d'ornithologie ; ils pesent chacun de huit a neuf kilogrammes, ont un bee de 

 46 centimetres de longeur, une envergure de 4 metres, d'une besace ou reservoir pour 

 contenir de huit a dix litres d'eau.* 



Occurrence of the Gull-billed Tern (Sterna anglica) near Yarmouth. — I have again 

 to record the capture of the gull-billed tern at Yarmouth, two specimens having been 

 shot there on the 1st instant. They were male and female, both adult, and beginning 

 to assume the winter dress, the change having progressed somewhat further in 

 the female than in the male bird. — /. H. Gurney ; Easton, near Norwich, September 

 6, 1849. 



Occurrence of Buffon' s Skua (Lestris parasitica) near Bedcar. — A very fine speci- 

 men of Buffon's skua was taken alive by some fishermen near Kedcar, on the 20th of 

 June last, and was kept for some time at Thirsk, in the possession of a man named 

 Hill. It has since died, and came into Mr. Graham's hands, who has set it up and 

 sold it to Mr. Eudstone Bead, who has presented it to the Yorkshire Philosophical So- 

 ciety. — E. T. Higgins ; York, September, 1819. 



Occurrence of the Fulmar Petrel (Procellaria glacialis) near Bridlington. — A 

 specimen of the fulmar petrel was killed this season at Bridlington ; a circumstance 

 which I learned has not occurred there for forty years previously. — F. O. Morris ; 

 Nafferton Vicarage, near Driffield, September 20, 1849. 



The Birds of Oxfordshire and its Neighbourhood. 

 By the Reverends Andrew and Henry Matthews. 



(Continued from page 2541). 



Class V. — Occasional Visitors. 



This class, the last, though by no means the least, in the present 

 arrangement, contains the greater part of those rare species whose vi- 

 sits may be reckoned among the remarkable events in the life of an 

 ornithologist. Many of these were formerly common residents; but 

 now, expelled from their ancient haunts by the progress of cultivation, 

 they are only met with as solitary wanderers, whose race in this part 



* Addressed to Mr. Couch, by whom it is obligingly communicated. 



