RECENT OCCURRENCE OF THE RUDDY SHELDRAKE. 395 



July 6th. A flock of five :* one (female) shot. Mouth of the 

 River Findhorn, Elginshire. The remainder of the flock appeared 

 to have stayed in the neighbourhood till towards the close of 

 July, but had all left by August 1st. (' Field,' Aug. 6, 1892, and 

 James Brown in litt.) 



Aug. 3rd. Single bird (female) shot at the evening " flighting" 

 (about 9 p.m.). Thorpe Mere, Suffolk. (F. M. O.) 



Aug. 8th. Single bird (male) shot. Thorpe Mere, Suffolk. 

 A wounded bird and very wild ; was ultimately secured by a well- 

 organised drive. (F. M. 0.) 



(I have little doubt that these last two birds recorded from 

 Thorpe Mere were the two wounded on July 5th.) 



Sept. 1st. Single bird shot on Humberstone " fitties," Lin- 

 colnshire, " apparently in immature plumage, and probably a 

 female." (C. H. Caton Haigh, ' Zoologist,' p. 360.) 



Sept. 13th. One (male) picked up dead on Snettisham Beach, 

 Norfolk. (J. H. Gurney in litt, and ' Field,' Sept. 24, 1892.) 



(" Last month two Ruddy Sheldrakes, or birds supposed to 

 be such, were seen on Holkham Lake, which is not very far from 

 Snettisham." J. H. Gurney in litt., Sept. 19, 1892.) 



A few general remarks on the distribution of the Sheldrakes 

 during their stay in this county may not be out of place here. 

 As regards Ireland, the Co. Donegal flock of " about twenty," — 

 supposing, as seems probable, they were the source from which 

 most of Irish records spring, must have crossed overland, — or 

 coasted round to the east side of the island, some appearing at 

 Skerries, Co. Dublin, on the 26th of June, — that is, one or two 

 days after they had been observed in Co. Donegal. A flock of 

 seven were reported " between Limerick and Foynes," on or about 

 July 7th, but, with this one exception, none seem to have been 

 observed on the S., S.E. or S.W. of Ireland, the head-quarters 

 apparently being the N. and N.W. Whether the Solway birds 

 (two) were of Irish origin is of course merely conjectural, though 

 it would seem not unlikely that this was the case. At any rate 

 they were the only birds recorded from the W. coast of England 

 and Scotland. Of the Scotch birds those seen at Durness, 



* The number of this flock is given in ■ The Field' as "six or eight," 

 but Mr. Brown writes " . . . also by careful inquiry I find five was the 

 number of the flock of Euddy Sheldrakes that appeared on the River 

 Findhorn." 



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