BIRDS CLAIMING TO BE ACCOUNTED BRITISH. 267 



Mr. Gatcombe has seen the supposed specimen recorded 

 by Dr. Moore as killed at Plymouth, (Mag. of N. H., 

 2nd sen, I., p. 365) as no doubt it was, seeing that it turns 

 out to be a young Long-tailed Duck. In his " Sketch of 

 the Nat. Hist, of Exeter," Mr. D'Urban notes that several 

 immature specimens have been obtained on the Exe, (p. 122) 

 but in a later edition he has wisely omitted this, and I hear 

 from him that they turned out, as I expected, young Long- 

 tails again. 



Mr. Yarrell bought two " young females " in the London 

 market, as he informs his readers (B. B., 1st. ed.. III., 

 p. 263), but he did not know the bird from the young 

 Long-tailed Duck, as his miscalling the one killed by the 

 Duke of Richmond proves (Ibis, 1859, p. 165), therefore his 

 evidence must be rejected. Mr. Bond is also very sure that 

 he once saw three or four young birds there, but even such 

 a good naturalist as he is may have been mistaken, and as 

 he did not take the trouble to preserve one, I cannot admit 

 that he has proved his case. 



Again, I have very little doubt that Mr. Yarrell was mis- 

 taken when he adds, that the keeper at Sir Philip Egerton's 

 shot a female in Cheshire in 1S40. Great author as he was, 

 he did not know what a rare bird the Harlequin was. At 

 this distance of time I cannot attempt to disprove it ; but 

 the following are a few additional details with which 

 Sir Philip has favoured me. He writes that he believes 

 the underparts were not dark, which they ought to have 

 been, that it was a bird of the year, and that it was never 

 preserved. Its occurrence was only communicated to 

 Mr. Yarrell on the authority of Professor Agassiz, who 

 chanced to be staying at his seat at Oulton Park. 



Professor Newton has given me a reference to a page in 

 the Zoologist (p. 145), where Mr. J. D. Banister records a 

 young female killed in Lancashire, and I have investigated 

 it and find that it was a mistake. 



