AND NEIGHBOURHOOD, 219 



Payne promised to make search and enquiry for this 

 specimen, but as I never heard any more of it, and 

 Mr. Payne was one of the most courteous and 

 obliging of men, I presume that he failed to discover 

 any facts connected with it that he considered worth 

 communicating to me, and except from this vague 

 memorandum the bird is " lost to history," as is 

 probably the case with many other interesting animals 

 in this county and elsewhere. 



xHthough Charles Payne's description might apply 

 to an immature Red-throated or Great Northern 

 Diver, I think that the evidence, such as it is, is in 

 favour of Mr. Tryon's original statement to me that 

 the bird really was a Gannet ; in the first place the 

 occurrence was fresh in his mind, the hounds being 

 at Brigstock at the time points to the cub-hunting 

 season (August, September, or October), at which 

 season the iidand appearance of a Gannet is much 

 more probable than that of a Diver {CoJymbus), 

 and Charles Payne's description applies roughly well 

 to the immature speckled stage of the Gannet's 

 plumage. 



My friend, Mr. F. Rooper, of Huntingdon, informed 

 me that a Gannet, " very much starved," was killed 

 at Ramsey in May 1883, and brought to him; and 

 whilst engaged on this article, October 1891, I hear 

 from Mr. Richard Tryon that he had a share in the 

 capture of one of the present species a few days ago, 

 not far from Oakham, in Rutland, during the pre- 

 valence of the strong S.W. gales from which we are 

 still suffering. I merely mention this last occurrence 

 as one of many of the Gannet at a considerable 

 distance from the sea, though not quite within my 

 assigned limits. 



