THE PINTAIL DUCK. 383 



Pow, Dunbar, for exhibition at our ineeting to-niglit. 

 It was received by Mr. Pow from a labourer who 

 shot it on the Tyne estuary during an easterly 

 storm on the 17th of February last. The bird 

 was shown to the shore shooters, to whom it was 

 unknown, none of them having a name for it. It 

 is fortunate that this fine example of one of our 

 most beautiful as well as rarest birds should have 

 fallen into the hands of a gentleman capable of 

 identifying it. Mr. Pow. who has had the oppor- 

 tunity of examining all the rare birds shot by the 

 local gunners during the last eight years, is certain 

 that the bird under notice is the only example of 

 the species that has been procured during those 

 years in the vicinity of Dunbar — a district ^vhich 

 may be said to be prolific in the rarer water-birds. 

 The specimen weighs two pounds, being 12 ounces 

 heavier than another male of this sj^ecies which 

 I formerly had an opportunity of weighing. It 

 measures 27 inches in length from j)oint of bill to 

 tip of tail, the tail being cuneiform and graduated, 

 the two central feathers extending 2| inches beyond 

 those nearest to them. The wings measure lOJ 

 inches from the carpal joint, and the mandibles 2f 

 inches to the gaj)e. The claws are very sharp. So 

 sharp have I found them in six examples (four of 

 which were adults), examined when recently killed, 

 that I conclude that the species feeds but seldom 

 from choice, if at all, on land."^ 



* Keeping in view the excellent paper by Mr. David Robertson, 

 jun., in the Proceedings of the Society, vol. iii., p. 332, I was 

 anxious that the shells which were found in the stomach of the 

 bird should be authoritatively identified. I accordingly handed 

 them to Mr. A. Somerville, B.Sc, F.L.S., who, having himself 

 failed to identify them, forwarded them to Mr. J. T. Marshall, 

 Torquay, the eminent conchologist. Mr. Marshall has replied 

 as follows : " I am sorry to have to return your shell fragments 

 undetermined, but it is quite impossible to identify a single 

 fragment with any known species. They have been picked up 

 on a pebbly beach, and are rolled, worn, and bleached beyond 

 recognition." 



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