NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 71 



several well authenticated specimens of it, besides Grosse's and those referred to 

 by Robinson, obtained, however, from the same vicinage.* In the summer of 

 1863, a nest of eleven eggs taken from a platform of rushes floating in the 

 large lake at Rio llio near Walton, in the Moneague District of St. Ann's, 

 were brought to the Rev. Mr. Mais, master of Walton School. These eggs 

 are supposed to belong to the Millard ; th'y are oily white, and measure 2| 

 by ]| of an inch. 



Many years ago I saw some eggs supposed to be one of the large migratory 

 lucks ; they were taken from the lake near Dry Harbor ; they were yellowish 

 oily green, very like some eggs of the English Duck, but I could not obtain 

 any information respecting them ; they may have belonged to the Shoveller,! 

 which I was toll had been found in those waters during the same summer ; 

 or, possibly, an English Duck from Dry Harbor, or one of the neighboring 

 pens. 



148. QgERQUEDULA inqrnata. The plain Blue-winged Teal is also a per- 

 manent inhabitant of Jamaica, breeding in the interior lagoons and morasses. 

 It is, I think, unite distinct from Q. dixcors. During the months of May and 

 June individuals are sometimes shot at the Cattle Ponds in the lowlands, but 

 they come down in September in flocks of considerable numbers, and are 

 common a month or more before the arrival of the Lunate Teal ; and in no 

 instance have I ever seen or heard of a specimen with the white crescent 

 having been found here in the summer, or previous to the month of Novem- 

 ber. The eggs are bluish chalky white. 



147. CJuerquedula DisfcORS. I have never seen the Lunate Blue-wing 

 earlier than the month of November; the usual period of their arrival is 

 towards the end of the month, and they again appear in March and April on 

 their return to the continent, when they are usually in full summer livery. 



The other species of Anatidje which are constant in their annual visits to 

 the island are 



159, IDS. Spatula CLYPEATi. The Shoveller always in considerable num- 

 bers. 



155. Mareca Americana. The American Widgeon in all its forms and 

 variety of plumage. 



164, 165. Fdlix affinis. The little Black-head also comes in considerable 

 numbers and varied forms. 



153. Dafila acuta. The Pintail, in numbers and in varied plumage. 



The occasional vistors are 



Pjeciloxetta Bahamensis. Ilathera Duck (rare.) 



"(N'ote by Mr. Richard Hill.) In the October season of 18i>5 there hail been wild, stormy rains. 

 The win. Is had bl >wo from tlu west wish that broad, steady force which renders our tempests in 

 tlio latter season as fierce as hurricanes, th >ugh not rotatory storms ; prodigious numbers of ducks 

 were blown before the winds from the c intiuent to tin: islands, that is. from the Mexican Uulf to- 

 t.ne Carribean Sea. The birds arrived at the west end of Jamaica so exhausted and beaten by the 

 rain that iu attempting to alight they fell, and many were picked up in the streets of Montego 

 Hay. Among several ducks that reached our garden just out of the town, was what seemed a. 

 Mallard of extraordinary size. In bulk of b.idy it appeared as large as a Muscovy Duck, {Giirina 

 moschala.) but its shape wot essentially a Mallard, (Greets bosdias.) It was taken up helpless 

 from fatigue, Teal hid been taken up at the saiua time in the same state of exhaustion. My 

 sister, Mrs. Clemetson, caged tlie extraordinary duck, and had it for two seasons. It was a 

 female. J saw it in the spring of 1817, and diiectei that it should be shipped to London for the 

 Zoological Society. Before it c >uld be di,-patched, it died in full plumare, and lull flesh. It had 

 laid infertile egs^s in the previous spring, an I was again laying infertile eggs, the sexual instinct 

 beinc intensely strong; and something like uterine inflammation, if we may so speak, had super- 

 v ened, and the bird perished iu the at of egg-laying. The duck exactly resembled in plumage 

 Mr.Oosse's Anas maxima. 



X Scarcely the Shoveller eggs of which are crea-ny white. S, F. B. 



1SG4.J 



