GARGANEY 335 



of Garganeys, about the middle of March, 1870, near 

 Sheerness." 



In the Zoologist, 1900, Dr. N. F. Ticehurst relates a 

 long account of the breeding of the Garganey in Kent. 

 He says : " I have the pleasure of recording, I believe 

 for the first time, the breeding of the Garganey in Kent. 

 My brother found the nest on May 2, in Eomney Marsh. 

 It was situated in quite a dry place in some long grass, 

 and between 30 to 40 yards from the nearest water. 

 "When first seen the nest consisted of only a few strands 

 of dead grass, and contained one egg. On May 3 there 

 were two eggs, and a lot more of grass strands had been 

 added to the nest, which was so well covered up and 

 hidden that we had some difficulty in finding it again. 

 On May 7 the nest contained six eggs, which were 

 sparsely covered with down and a few grass stems, the 

 nest itself, owing to its increasing size, being much more 

 easily seen than before. Subsequently, on May 12, we 

 found a second nest containmg five eggs and the remains 

 of a sixth, which had been broken, probably by being 

 trodden upon by a sheep. The nest was deserted, the 

 remaining eggs being glued to the nest by the contents 

 of the sixth, the spaces between the eggs being occupied 

 by a small growth of mildew. The amount of down in 

 this nest was much less than that in the first, but still 

 there was quite enough to surely identify the eggs by, 

 the down being quite characteristic, and wholly unlike 

 that of the Common Teal. I have suspected that this 

 bird bred in Eomney Marsh for some years, ever since 

 having been told by a former resident there that a pair 

 or two of Garganey generally turned up at a certain spot 

 about May 1 every year, but that so far as he knew they 

 did not breed." 



