Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/351

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

BIRDS 263. Leach's Fork-tailed Petrel. Oceanodroma with black and not uniform white. For a leucorrhoa (Vieillot) description of this bird's breeding haunts and My remark on the preceding species also habits see my paper in Ihh^ 1897, pp. 96-7 ; applies to this petrel. It has occurred as far also Zoologist, 1896, p. 167. inland as Maidstone, where an adult female was captured, and is now in the museum of 265. Great Shearwater. Puffinus gravis that town. (O'Reilly) An individual of this rare species was taken 264. Maderian Fork-tailed Petrel. Oceano- alive on the rocks at Ramsgate 29 October droma castro (Harcourt) 1890 (J. H. Gurney, Zool. 1891, p. 274). The first recorded example of this rare wan- derer to the British Isles was picked up on the 266. Manx Shearwater. Puffinus anglorum beach close to Littleston near Dungeness on (Temminck) 5 December 1895, at a time when strong A migrant to the Kentish coast. A speci- north-westerly gales were prevalent. It was men in the Folkestone Museum was taken sent to Mr. Bristow, the taxidermist of St. at Dover. Leonards, where I examined the bird in the flesh. It is now in my collection. This 267. Fulmar. Fulmarus glacialis {Unn) petrel is very similar to Leach's fork-tailed A rare wanderer so far south as Kent. The petrel, but differs in the following respects : only example on record was obtained at tail, nearly square and not deeply forked; Wittersham 17 October 1894. It was sent basal part of outer feathers white, not dark to Mr. Springett of Cranbrook, where I saw to the base ; upper tail coverts white, tipped it in the flesh, and it is now in my collection. ADDENDA The Collared Pratincole. Glareola pratincola (Linn.) On 30 May 1903, at Jury's Gap in Romney Marsh, a male specimen of the collared pratincole was shot by Mr. Southerden on a pool of water near his house. It allowed of an easy approach, the bird flying round the water in short circles and alighting again almost immediately. It was examined in the flesh by Dr. Ticehurst of St. Leonard's, and subse- quently exhibited by him at a meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club (Bull, B.O.C. No. xcix. vol. xiii. p. 77). This specimen, the first recorded for Kent, is now in the collection of Mr. Fleetwood Ashburnham, of Broomham Park, Sussex. The collared pratincole can only be regarded as a rare wanderer in spring and autumn to Great Britain and a summer visitor to the south of Europe, ranging as far east as Turkestan and the Indian Peninsula. It winters in Africa, returning in April to the northern portions, where considerable numbers remain to breed. Along the African rivers, small parties haunt the rocky portions, from which it is diflScult to drive them away, taking, on being disturbed, a short circuitous flight only to return aga'in to their favourite island of rocks in mid-stream. The Black-winged Pratincole. Glareola melanoptera, Nordm. At the beginning of June 1903 a male of this species was obtained near Littlestone by Mr. F. Mills. This was exhibited by Dr. Ticehurst at a meeting of the British Ornitholo- gists' Club, and stands as the first recorded instance from the British Isles. Subsequently, on 17 June, another male was shot by a man named Jones in Romney Marsh. This second specimen is now in the collection of Mr. Fleetwood Ashburnham. Besides the occurrence of these two males in Romney Marsh, a female specimen was obtained near Rye Harbour on 18 July 1903. There is not a doubt that all these pratincoles formed part of the same visit- ation to Romney Marsh. The black-winged pratincole also winters in Africa, and is the representative form of the collared pratincole in south-eastern Europe. It diflPers from the latter in having black underwing coverts instead of chestnut, and in having no white alar bar. iOI