45^ 



S/fd)ds : Bird Xotcs from Oldham Disfricf. 



But Mr. Bailey wrote mueh himself on the subject. Very 

 numerous notes from his pen kept the readers of * The 

 Naturalist ' informed of the occurrences of rare birds, and the 

 nio\'ements of others for a long series of years. Marine mam- 

 mals and hshes also were duly noted, and he was ever read}^ to 

 give of his abounding stores of information to visitors. 



The Rev. Robert Fisher's ' Handbook to Flamborough 

 Milage and Headland,' published in 1894, contains a par- 

 ticularly useful chapter on the birds bv Mr. Bailey. 



He was a member of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, 

 elected in 1805. 



In private life he was a cheer}^ pleasant, bluff man, a tailor 

 b}' trade, the owner of propert}^ in Flamborough, and at one 

 time a member of the life-boat crew. 



He died on the 20th September, 1908, at the age of seventy- 

 three, and three days later was laid to rest, leaving daughters 

 behind him to mourn his loss. R. 



BIRD NOTES FROM THE OLDHAM DISTRICT. 



F. STUBBS. 



Ox August 31st, about midnight, a policeman picked up a Manx 

 Shearwater in an Oldham street. It was dead when found, 

 but was in first-rate bodily condition, and I was totally unable 

 to find the slightest trace of exterior or interior injury. On 

 September 26th Mr. Jos. Middleton, of Broadbottom, sent me 

 for identification a large hawk, shot that morning by a keeper, 

 who saw it ' hovering over a pheasant.' It was an immature 

 Honey Buzzard, with bright yellow cere, and dark brown 

 irides. The gizzard proved to be full of wasp grubs. The 

 same afternoon a man shot in a suburb of Oldham an immature 

 Buffon's Skua, an addition to our long list of local birds. I 

 may add these observations on this specimen : — Length, 4" ; 

 wing, i' o" ; tail, 6" ; outer feathers, 5'' ; culmen, i'". Bill dark 

 lead-grey, and irides very dark brown ; tarsi and proximal 

 third of toes blue-grey, and apices of webs buffish-white ; the 

 anterior two-thirds of toes, and webs jet-black. The upper 

 surfaces of the shafts of all but the first two primaries were 

 dark, and the under surfaces white. Its gizzard contained 

 the remains of many insects, amongst which I recognised 

 crane-flies, and the wings of some species of Syrphidae. 



Several observers have recorded the occurrence of the Manx 



Naturalist, 



