Many off Redcar in 1841, as also all along the coasts of Lincolnshire,
Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, and Sussex.
In Oxfordshire, one was caught at Salford, near ('hipping Norton,
in December, 1817; another had been found in an adjoining parish
a few years previously. Several have been taken near Oxford. One
at Nuncham Park, near Abingdon, the seat of the Rev. William
Vernon l l a r c o u r t , November Oth., 18(j8. It has also occurred near
N ewbury, Berkshire.
In Cornwall, one at Plymouth Hoe, in December, 1850; one at
Pennance, December, 19th., 1846; one in Bream Bay, March 7th.,
1847; our als<> at Gwyllynvase. Two have been met with in Falmouth
harbour: elsewhere others. Also on the coast of Devonshire,
One near Plymouth, in December, 185(5; another in January, 1868.
Montagu records three killed in his time, one on the 4th. of December,
1804, another on the 25th. of November, 1805, and the third on
the 17th. of J a n u a r y , 1800.
One was shol near Dover, in the year 1840, which Mr. Chaffey, of
Doddington, has written me word of; and one at KLUingholme, Lincolnshire,
in 1846, of which Mr. George Johnson is my informant.
O n e was obtained in the vicinity of Ingham, in Norfolk, and one
in the same county, shot near Yarmouth, the 24th. of November,
1853, of which Mr. James Hunt wrote to me; one also near Hunstanton,
in severe weather in the winter of 1852, of which the Rev. W. C.
Fearon, vicar of that parish, lias written me word. One near" Cambridge
; one, in the severe storm of January, 1854, was found dead
upon the ice, in the Lordship of Great Houghton, near Northampton,
of this Mr. William Brooks Gates has informed me. Another was
caught alive at Wildon, in the same county.
One was picked up in the middle of the city of Durham, not far
from the River Wear, in the garden of E. Shepperdson, Esq., on
the 20th. of November, 1852. It had apparently just been seized by
a cat. In the month of October hundreds appeared off Hartlepool,
on the Durham coast, and the birds were in such close flocks, that
five or six were killed at a shot. One was seen near Stockton-on-
Tecs, in the county of Durham, in March, 1853, and another was
shot on the River Wear, near Durham, the beginning of December,
1846, In Sussex one was obtained at Crawley the first week in
November, 1850, and another near Worthing, shot on the 15th. of
Nove mber, 1852. In Surrey it has occurred near Godahning. In
Somersetshire, one at Weston-super-Mare in the winter of 1848-9. In
Cambridgeshire one was picked up alive, but in a very exhausted
s t a t e , at Newmarket Heath, in the month of November, 1849; another
between Cambridge and St. Neots, November 21st., 1851. Another
was found between Baldock and Royston, in 1846; one, a male, at
Walney Wash, 20th. of November, 1856. In AVorccstcrshire one about
the same time near Malvern. Nine others have occurred in that
county.
They have been met with along the coasts of Essex, Suffolk, and
Norfolk. They are extremely uncertain in their appearance. Great
numbers appeared off the shore in the month of October, 1841.
Three in November, 1853, off Yarmouth, Lynn, and at Norwich respectively.
In 1846, specimens occurred at Sculthorpe, on the 3rd. of
December; at Norwich on the 5th.; Horsey on the 7th.; Cromer
and Stratton-Strawdess on the 17th.; and at Salthousc and Fakenham
on the 18th. and 19th.; with several others. Four near Downham,
near which place one was subsequently obtained in the second week
of July in the same year. A few were on sale in the London
markets. Three in Shropshire. Others at Bristol and up the Severn.
One in Hertfordshire, at "Wheathampstoad.
I n Scotland one was procured by the Rev. Mr. Cunningham, of
Prestonpaus. It had been taken in an exhausted state by some
fishermen; another, also, in November, 1852, in the F i r t h off Dalmcny
P a r k ; another was shot by Robert H . Broughton, Esq. near Cramond,
on the Firth of Forth, on the 14th. of February, 1853. In Sutherlandshire
the species occurs, but not numerously, in the winter; so
also in Caithness. A very large fiock made their appearance in
Moray Firth in December, 1846. 'Every stream and burn falling
into the Firth was discovered to have some of these active little
divers, and so careless were they of the presence of man, that in
some instances they were taken alive, while others arc said to have
been found in the interior of houses."
A large flock of these birds visited the Dunbar shore during a
severe storm, in November and December, 1846, and one of them is
now in my collection, obligingly forwarded to me by R. Gray, Esq.,
Southcroft, Govan, Glasgow, who procured twenty or thirty specimens.
He wrote to me of these, ' M a n y of them were in a disabled state,
and were found in fields and gardens in the neighbourhood. Some
were found dead in these situations, small flocks were observed along
the shore, and sometimes met with in the hai'bour and other smooth
water to which they could get access. I had at one time eight or
nine individuals in custody. Two of them were very fine specimens.
Those in my possession were very pugnacious; between the two I
have just mentioned, a sharp fight happened, which was likely to
end in the death of the weaker combatant, had they not been