NOTES AND QUERIES. 29 



vessel many months ago, or came for a portion of the journey on a floating 

 log, or by the sargasso seaweed, or solely by its own efforts, I must leave 

 others to determine. The occurrence is remarkable, at any rate, of an 

 almost antarctic species turning up at an Irish lighthouse, in excellent 

 condition and without any apparent traces of previous confinement. — 

 Richard M. Barrington (Fassaroe Bray, Co. Wicklow). 



[The appearance of this bird in a state of liberty upon the coast of 

 Ireland is indeed remarkable, though perhaps not more so than the occur- 

 rence of a South Pacific Petrel, Mstrelata torquata, in Cardigan Bay 

 (Zool. 1890, p. 454; Ibis, 1891, p. 411, with coloured figure). The 

 Sheathbills, however, are apparently less wandering in their habits than 

 some of the Petrels. There are only two species of the genus Chionis, 

 namely C. alba and C. minor, and their distribution is somewhat curious, 

 the former occupying islands off the southern portion of South America ; 

 the latter, islands southward of South Africa; and we are not aware of any 

 record of the two species having been found together. If we are not mis- 

 taken, the example of G. alha now reported furnishes the first instance of 

 the occurrence of either species in European waters. How far its passage 

 may have been aided by man's intervention it is of course very difficult 

 to determine. — Ed.] 



Bullfinches and Lilac Seeds. — Opposite my bed-room window, in my 

 neighbour's small garden, nearly in the centre of this town, are some 

 very large lilac shrubs, in fact they might almost be called trees. For 

 some mornings lately I have noticed, when dressing, several Bullfinches, 

 Pyrrhula europaa, busily engaged feeding on the lilac seeds. This morning 

 I saw no less than seven of these birds so employed. Others may have 

 noticed the fact that these seeds are a favourite food of the Bullfinch ; but 

 it is a new and interesting one to me, and may be to others besides myself, 

 and for this reason I have thought it worth recording. The flavour of 

 the lilac has always appeared to me so disagreeable that I thought no birds 

 would touch the seeds, and these are the only ones I have ever seen inter- 

 fering with them. — Henry Laver (Colchester). 



Bittern in Dorset. — On the 8th of December last a specimen of this 

 now uncommon British bird was shot in this neighbourhood. — W. D. Slade 

 (Burton Branstock, Dorset). 



Little Grebe killed by Telegraph-Wires.— During the first week in 

 December, Mr. John Little, one of the pointsmen at Maxwelltown Station, 

 brought me a Little Grebe which had been killed by coming in contact 

 with the telegraph-wires; and this seems to be a bird which somehow eludes 

 the wires in its flights, for I cannot find that it has been noted before as 



