Birds. 



6331 



' see one* or* two of them settle on the water, and find that you can sail towards them. 

 These birds will let you get close to them, and are so tender that a very slight wound 

 will bring them down. See, you have a couple of them lying on the water, wounded : 

 you pick them up, and find them both pomarines, the one an old bird, with the two 

 central tail-feathers elongated and rounded at their tips ; the other a young bird, in 

 the rich chesnut-coloured garb of the bird which is so well figured in Yarrell's third 

 volume. You may perhaps be fortunate enough to shoot one or two of Richardson's 

 bird, but you will find that they are young ones, and you will hardly secure two alike. 

 A friend and I shot five pomarine and two Richardson's skuas during a very short 

 stay at Torquay. Three of our pomarines were fine adults. I also saw several other 

 specimens of adult birds which had been killed about the same date by other shooters. 

 — Murray A. Mathews ; Merton College, Oxford, November, 1858. 



Pomarine Skua (Lestris pomarina) near Brighton. — Of this bird I cannot do 

 better than quote the interesting account sent me by the Rev. R. N. Dennis, Rector 

 of East Blatchington, Seaford, Sussex : — " With a strong south wind and spring tides 

 the salt water runs through the shingle bank and overflows some twenty or thirty acres 

 of grass land in front of the little town of Seaford, and on this temporary salt-water 

 lake storm-driven sea fowl occasionally rest. A raised causeway leads across the 

 common from the town to the battery, and it was from this causeway that Willy Banks, 

 the bricklayer, shot the pomarine skua on the 7ih of October, 1858, the bird fell winged, 

 and was brought out by his dog: his brother saw three or four more birds, which he 

 described as of the same species, but did nut think, as he says, ' of any account,' 

 which, I suppose, means not worth powder and shot. I had passed the spot but a 

 short time before, so that the bird had not long been in, and what surprised me a little 

 was, that it must have come in when the tide was ebbing and the gale sinking. It 

 is perhaps a little remarkable that on that same Thursday twelvemonth, — i.e. 

 October 8th, 1857, — I shot two pomarine skuas and a Richardson's skua, during a 

 tremendous southerly gale : a little flock of eight were resting on the flood at the lower 

 part of this parish, and they had not only found shelter but a good feeding-ground too, 

 as they were gorged with earth-worms brought to the surface of the salt water. The 

 stomach of the bird shot this year contained nothing but a little green, swallowed (no 

 doubt) accidentally with its prey." I saw the above mentioned specimen at Mr. 

 Swaysland's " in the meat," it was a male bird, very old, — in fact quite aged, — with 

 a most powerful beak, enough to kill any gull ; it was just getting the two black 

 feathers of the tail, being in autumn plumage. 



Occurrence of Sabine's Gull (Larus Sabini) at Brighton. — This rare bird was shot 

 in the equinoctial gale of Thursday, October 7th, 1858, in Hove, near Brighton. The 

 head was not " dark or ash-colour," being an immature specimen, in autumn plumage, 

 and, on dissection, found to be a male bird. I saw it just after it had been skinned 

 by Mr. George Swaysland, naturalist, 4, Queen's Road, Brighton, where it may be 

 seen for sale. 



Remarks on the Southern Petrels. — Of all the birds that inhabit the southern 

 seas the albatross is the best known ; every one going for the first time round the 

 Cape of Good Hope looks out with interest for his first sight of this far-famed bird, 

 and generally he is disappointed ; the bird he is pointed out is often of a dirty brown 

 colour, large enough certainly, but surrounded by shoals of smaller ones, who have 

 flown as far and braved the same dangers as the " wanderer " himself, these sadly take 

 away from the grandeur of the scene. Nevertheless, an old fellow : in his full white 



