A FREAK OF NATURE.
IT° THE EDITOR Or THE 44 SPECTATOR."3 Ent,—When the 'Pia-ve' was wrecked recently on the Goodwin 'Sands, a very large quantity of fuel oil was released, which covered the sea for many miles. Such sea-birds as gannets, cormorants, guillemots, divers, various ducks, terns, and several species of gulls became saturated with this black, foul-smelling, and adhesive substance, and died in large numbers. Many have been washed up along the beach between Ramsgate and Dover, the bodies being so thieldj coated with the crude tar-like oil that species could not be identified without difficulty. As, the oil became dispersed, gulls and other birds, diving or swimming through it, were able to fly, but became stained with it, and I imagine that the blaek-headed gull seen in St. James's Park is a specimen of this kind, for I have observed many similarly soiled in this neighbourhood.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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