58 QUEKQUEDULA CIRCIA. 



individuals, said to have been shot near Stilling, were exposed 

 for sale in the Edinburgh market. Mr. Yarrell also states, 

 that Dr. Edward Clarke sent him notice from Edinburgh 

 that six specimens were shot in Stirlingshire in the last fort- 

 night of March 1841. It is said, also, to have been seen in 

 small numbers in the Montrose Basin. It is also stated to 

 occur, though rarely, in Orkney, appearing chiefly, if not 

 altogether, in spring. It is said to inhabit marshy places, 

 rivers, and lakes, and to feed on slugs, insects, worms, 

 aquatic plants, and their seeds : to nestle in wet meadoAvs, 

 and to lay ten or twelve gi'eenish-yellow eggs. Mr. Thomp- 

 son marks it as " of very rare occurrence in Ireland." 



Remarks. — I have not examined the trachea of this 

 species ; but, according to M. Temminck, " it is rather wide 

 at the upper larynx, suddenly becomes very narrow, then 

 gradually acquiring a greater diameter, until toward the 

 lower larynx, it is there composed of rings twice the breadth 

 of those of the middle of the tube ; the loAver larynx forms a 

 large bony protuberance, which dilates beneath." Mr. Yar- 

 rell figures the bony enlargement, and describes it as " nearly 

 oval, and placed perpendicularly, so as to appear like a con- 

 tinuation of the tracheal tube, rather than as an appendage 

 to it ; the enlargement is not on the left side, as in other 

 species, but in the front, and the bronchial tubes come off 

 from the flattened inner surface which lies upon the oesopha- 

 gus." 



The above descriptions are taken from prepared specimens 

 from India. 



