22 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Cuckoo chased by a Rook. — At Midhurst last summer a Rook was 

 seen chasing a Cuckoo, and shortly after a Cuckoo was picked up dead. 

 When skinned and dissected it was found to have died from a clot of blood 

 on the heart, evidently the result of fright and the speed at which it was 

 forced to fly. The bird is now in my collection. Can any one tell me why 

 the Rook should have been antagonistic to the Cuckoo? — J. N. Smith 

 (30, Shooter's Hill Road, Blackheath). 



[The Cuckoo is frequently chased by other birds, apparently mistaken 

 for a hawk, the common enemy to their race. — Ed.] 



Great Shearwater in Killala Bay, Co. Mayo.— On the 23rd April 

 last, whilst standing on the end of the pier at Enniscrone watching a play 

 of Gulls, I was surprised to see a flock of eleven Shearwaters beating about 

 amidst the crowd of Gulls and Guillemots. Their mode of fishing was very 

 peculiar, and quite different from that of the other birds ; for, while in full 

 flight close along the surface of the water, and without the slightest pause, 

 they would suddenly dash into the water with a splash, and disappear beneath 

 the surface for some moments, reappearing again some yards further on. This 

 mode of fishing they continued while beating to and fro over the spot where 

 the fish were, like sporting dogs quartering a field for game. I had a very 

 good though distant view of them through my glass, and from their much 

 larger size than the Manx, and from not displaying the pure black and 

 white plumage of that bird, I have no doubt of their being the Great 

 Shearwater, Puffinus major. None of those that I saw were dark enough 

 underneath for the Sooty Shearwater, P. griseus. I continued to watch 

 them for an hour, and regretted that, being Sunday, I was unable to obtain 

 a gun and boat and go in pursuit of the flock. I have never before known 

 this species to appear on our coast in April. Is it probable that a few 

 pairs may breed on some remote part of the Irish coast ? No doubt there 

 are many islands and island rocks that have never been visited by com- 

 petent naturalists. — Robert Warren (Moyview, Ballina, Co. Mayo). 



11 Blood-Olph," a name for the Bullfinch. — ' The Zoologist' for 

 December contains a review of Prof. Newton's 'Dictionary of Birds,' in 

 which the following passage occurs: — "It is stated that ' Blood-Olph' is a 

 not uncommon name for this bird (the Bullfinch); but we have never met 

 with it, though we have been in almost every county in England." It may 

 be worth pointing out that the name, spelt as " Bloodolf," occurs in 

 a list of local names in use in Norfolk, contributed by the late Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney to 'The Zoologist' for 1878 (p. 288), and in the first volume of 

 the 'Birds of Norfolk ' (p. 234), Mr. Stevenson writes :— " The provincial 

 name of ' Blood Olph ' is commonly applied to the Bullfinch in Norfolk, in 

 the same way that ' Green Olph ' is used to denote the Greenfinch, as before 

 stated." It is hardly necessary to add that the name is derived from the 



