104 
the Avliite-hreaslcd form of the Pomatorhiuo Skua obtained during 
the season. Ironi that date (the 15th) they would seem to have 
passed in large numhers along the shores of the Wash. Mr. 
George Cresswell, of Lynn, in a letter to Mr. Southwell, says; “A 
great number of Skuas arrived here (I refer j^articularly to the 
AVolterton shore) on the 16th of October, during the heavy gale 
from north-west, and remained about a fortnight. When they first 
arrived they were in great numbers and very tame.” At the same 
date, at Wells, Cley, Elakeney, and Salthouse, these birds were 
conspicuous and the gunners oidy too birsy. Mr. Cole, of Norwich, 
had nine Pomatorhines from the above localities on the 16th, and 
eleven more between the 20th and 26th. A gentleman rvho called 
UJ30U him at that time to enquire the name of these dark-jrlumaged 
Gulls, said he had been staying near Mundesley and had shot about 
forty on that ]>art of the coast (locality not mentioned), which he 
sent to a friend in London. By the 16th and 18th they were 
abundant in Holkham Bay, and Jilr. Lack, a birdstuffer at Holt, 
received, chiefly from Blakeney, forty-seven Pomatorhines, two 
Pichardson’s, and two Buffon’s Skuas, one of the latter a fine adult 
specimen. Of birds killed both at Lynn and Yarmouth at this 
time I think it is most likely that the chief jjart were sent, with 
other fowl and fish, to the London markets, and only later on that 
the surplus reached our dealers. On the 30th Mr. Cole received 
from Yarmouth, alone, nineteen Pomatorhine Skuas, many of which 
■were fresh, but others had evidently been killed some days. It is 
difficult, therefore, to estimate the number of the slain, as many 
of the s|)ecimens changed hands more than once, and nine or ten 
of IMr. Lack s birds came to Cole, of Norwich. From a pretty 
close calculation, however, and including such as have been seen 
by friends in other birdstuffers’ shops, and roughly estimating such 
as may not have been 2:ireserved at all, or were sent out of the 
county, I should say that not less than two hundred Skuas, 
mainly Pomatorhines, rvere thus inhosjDitably treated Avhen driven 
by adverse gales upon our coast. 
As to the latest appearance of any of the three species which 
then visited us— for, singularly enough, I have not heard of a 
single specimen of the Great Skua fSiercomrius catarrhactc^J 
having occurred here last autumn— I may mention that on the 
30th of October, from the Yarmouth station of the Great Eastern 
