Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/250

 A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK seven were adults (Babington). It has no black on the wings or tail at any age, and the young birds are mottled all over with light brown on a dull white ground. 257. Iceland Gull. Larm Uucopierus, Faber. The Iceland gull is one of the rarest win- ter visitants. One was shot in Thorpe Mere in January, 1874 (Ipswich Museum), and in the Zoologist for 1892 (p. 1 1 4) Mr. F. M. Ogilvie gives particulars of another shot in January of that year, both of which were immature. This species resembles the glauc- ous gull in colour, but is much smaller, and has far longer wings in proportion to its size. 258. Kittiwake. Rissa tridactyla (Linn.) This gull is a rather irregular winter visi- tant, but sometimes appears in fair numbers in the sprat fishing time. After some heavy gales in February, 1894, an adult bird was picked up in a yard at Bury, and another was found exhausted near Bury in March, 1903, after a westerly gale. 259. Great Skua. Megalestris catarrhactes (Linn.) A very rare winter visitant to the coast. An unusually light-coloured specimen in the Ipswich Museum was picked up dead on the beach at Thorpe in January, 1864, and one was shot at Lowestoft in the memorable storm of 18 January, 1 88 1 [Zoologist, 1882, p. 429). It is essentially a sea-rover, rarely approaching the shore. 260. Pomatorhine Skua. Stercorarius poma- torhinus (Temminck) An irregular autumn and winter visitant. There was an exceptional immigration all along the east coast in October, 1879, when several were obtained near Aldeburgh (Hele). 261. Arctic or Richardson's Skua. Stercora- rius crepidatus (J. F. Gmelin) This is in Suffolk by far the most common of all the four skuas and a regular autumn visitant, sometimes appearing as early as August. It has been obtained in all stages of plumage, and there are several good local specimens in the Ipswich Museum. 262. Long-tailed or Buffon's Skua. Stercora- rius parasiticus (Linn.) A rare autumn visitant which has been obtained a few times on the coast and once near Newmarket, where one was found dead in November, 1891. All the skuas seem to make the return journey to their northern breeding-places by a different route in the spring, as they are never seen at that season on the east coast. 263. Razorbill. Alca tarda, Linn. This bird is not uncommon as an autumn and winter visitant, and in late summer quite young ones are seen with their parents, having strayed from their breeding-haunts on the Yorkshire cliflfs. Early in 1872 there was a strange mortality among these birds, which Mr. Hele described in the Field. ' An ex- traordinary advent of and mortality amongst razorbills, numbers of which have been washed ashore. From whence all these in- dividuals have strayed I know not, but imagine that as starvation appears to be in each and every case the actual cause of death they had been in attendance upon some shoals of small fish — probably sprats — which had suddenly taken to deeper water through the generally rough condition of the sea. Certain it is that all the birds I have examined are more or less mature with good and sound plumage. In my walk this morning my dog brought me no less than eleven specimens, and I hear of very many more having been found.' This mortality was not limited to Aldeburgh or even to Suffolk. 264. Guillemot, t/n'a /r«/7^ (Linn.) A visitant at any time of the year except the height of the breeding season, and some- times found inland. One was picked up alive and uninjured at Rougham on 13 March, 1896, and sent to the Zoological Gardens. 265. Black Guillemot. Uria grylle {L'mn.) Though a regular breeder in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the black guillemot is a very rare winter visitant, and the immature bird obtained at Aldeburgh by Mr. Hele in 1863 (Ipswich Museum) is perhaps the only Suffolk specimen in existence. 266. Little Auk. Mergulus alle (Linn.) This little arctic sea-bird is not rare as a winter visitant, and more often found inland than any other bird of its kind. There was an extraordinary visitation early in 1895, and little auks were picked up all over the county, though less numerously than in Norfolk. Mr. Hewlett of Newmarket had more than forty (W. Howlett in litt.). 267. Puffin. Fratercula arctica (Linn.) The quaint-looking puffin is not common enough in Suffolk to be known by its York- shire name of ' sea-parrot,' and is a decidedly rare bird. Mr. Hele has given [Notes about Aldeburgh, ed. 1870, p. 164) details of a fine 212