Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/93

Rh Cataractes, L. pomarinus, and L. Richardsonii. Seen after severe storms, generally in autumn.

Manx Shearwater, Puffinus Anglorum. On the coast.

Storm Petrel, Thalassidroma pelagica. Rather common after severe gales from sea.

The following birds are added to the list of occasional visitants, but I have never noticed them personally : — Long-tailed Duck (Fuligula glacialis), Roseate tern (Sterna Dougallii), Iceland Gull (Larus leucopterus), Buffon's Skua (Lestris parasiticus), and Forked-tail Petrel (Thalassidroma Leachii).

Little Bustard and Great Bustard, Otis tetrax and Otis tarda. Both uncommon, and seen during the vidnter months on sandy heaths and in wild rocky spots. Scarcely ever in the centre of Belgium.

Lesser tern, Sterna minuta. Scarce. Only seen during the sum- mer months.

Kittiwake Gull, Larus tridactylus. This species is not scarce on our sea-shores in winter ; it never nestles here. In summer after severe storms and gales, young birds are seen many miles inland on rivers and ponds, even in Brabant in the neighbourhood of Brussels.

I have now terminated my notes on the Birds of Belgium, and I may observe that not many kingdoms of so small an extent can boast of a Fauna so varied as ours.

Belgium is so situated as to lie on the way of the numerous migrants which annually leave their breeding stations in the North to seek a more genial climate where no snow falls and food is plentiful, and its surface is so diversified, that nearly every species of bird (ex- cept such as frequent rocky shores) may find localities suited to their habits.

If we begin from our low and sandy shore, we meet first extensive and flat plains, of which some are highly cultivated, and some (espe- cially in the province of Antwerp) present nothing else to the eye but a vast extent of sand and heath, which stretches all round as far as the horizon, being only relieved here and there by a solitary pine or larch.