ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM LOWESTOFT. 333 



a few birds washed ashore during the rough easterly wind that 

 prevailed at the time, when I came across a Eazorbill with its 

 breast black, sitting by the edge of the water vigorously preen- 

 ing its feathers ; I ran and endeavoured to capture it before it 

 could take to the water, but it was too smart for me, as with 

 harsh croaks it shuffled back into the sea, and by repeatedly 

 diving soon placed a fair stretch of water between itself and the 

 shore. I was for a time greatly puzzled about this bird, and 

 wondered in my own mind whether I had made the acquaintance 

 of a variety of Eazorbill hitherto unrecorded, but the entry of 

 the 17th will explain. A Jackdaw was the only bird washed 

 ashore. A great arrival of Eobins was noted, and fights 

 between the resident birds and the newcomers were general; 

 I could not detect the Continental form among these Eedbreasts. 

 Flocks of Linnets, Greenfinches and Chaffinches were passing 

 both north and south ; some Goldfinches were heard among the 

 flocks of Linnets that were going south. 



17th.— I walked from Corton almost to Gorleston by the 

 beach in company with Mr. Hunt. The tide-mark was strewn 

 with a thick tar-like substance, and we found in all eight Eazor- 

 bills and a Guillemot cast up from the sea, so besmeared with 

 this black viscous matter that not one feather could be separated 

 from another, and in only one example could any trace of the 

 white breast be seen. We also saw another live example sitting 

 on the shore, madly endeavouring to free itself from the sticky 

 mess. Mr. A. H. Patterson, writing in the ' Eastern Daily 

 Press ' on this subject, says : — " I suspect some unfortunate 

 submarine or torpedo- destroyer had been sunk, and the petrol 

 and other stuff of a like character had, after explosion, risen to 

 the surface." I imagine this is a most satisfactory explanation 

 as to the presence of this "tar " that had caused such mortality 

 among the diving birds. The following birds were found cast up 

 along the shore, none of which I might state had any trace of 

 the tar-like matter on their feathers : two Fulmar Petrels, two 

 Eooks, a Jackdaw, two Eedwings, a Song-Thrush, two Starlings, 

 and a Herring-Gull, and a Lesser Black-back. 



20th. — The coastal migration was very slight, only a flock of 

 Starlings were seen going north, and a few Linnets moving 

 south. I disturbed a flock of about a dozen Blackbirds, mostly 



