2 40 
Nelson : Storm at Tees mouth. 
of slag, or had wandered to the river channel, where they were 
either caught by boys or carried off on the tide. Two or three 
old curlews and a duck were picked up on the sands, and an 
adult gannet was captured among the bents on the break- 
water. I feel sure that, if other three hundred be added to the 
numbers mentioned, this would form a very low estimate of 
the total casualties. 
With the exception of a few lesser black-backed gulls, the 
specimens examined by my friends and myself were of the 
common species (Lams canus), and the black-headed (L. 
ridibundus), in the proportion of about three of the former to 
one of the latter. Most of the common gulls had a few im- 
mature feathers on the back and wings ; nearly all L. ridi- 
bundus were in adult plumage. Almost all those I saw had 
broken wings or wounds on the head, and there can be no 
doubt that these injuries were caused by the large pieces of 
ice driven by a furious gale. I noticed several black-headed 
gulls in a dazed condition, and very weak on their legs, and the 
feet and legs of some dead ones were contracted and drawn up 
close to the bod}’. A score, or more, of gullswere skinned, and 
in every case there was evidence of serious injury from blows 
on the back, head, or wings. An adult curlew had its skull 
fractured in two places, a broken wing, the neck damaged, and 
the tail completely shorn off. 
An old wildfowl-shooter, whom I have known for many 
years, and on whose word I can rely, witnessed the whole occur- 
rence. He tells me that when the storm was approaching, he 
saw a large assemblage of gulls, regular frequenters of the Tees 
' slems/ showing signs of uneasiness, sereamimg loudly in 
alarm, then rise in a body and make for the marsh ; but, 
before they got halfway across the sands, the cyclone struck 
them and they were lost to view. When the storm had passed, 
the sands were strewn with dead gulls, dozens of wounded were 
helplessly straggling about, and, as my informant walked 
amongst them, they showed no fear, evidently suffering from 
shock and buffeting by the wind and ice. 
If I had not, myself, had ocular proof of the peculiar and 
tremendous force of the storm, I would hesitate to mention 
an almost incredible statement made by a resident at the 
breakwater, who declares he found some wounded gulls 
actually held by one or both of their wings being embedded and 
driven into the sands by the ice, so rendering them powerless 
to escape. He released the unfortunates in this predicament. 
Three badly stunned black-headed gulls were placed in the 
garden here on the 3rd July — next morning two had flown, and, 
later in the afternoon, the third one, whilst I was showing it 
to two visitors, got on the wing and flew off. 
Eye-witnesses of the cyclone give eloquent testimony of 
Naturalist, 
