22t Letters, E., tracts, Xoliccs, ^■•. 



Florence, was Ijoiiiilit hy the hito ^\ . \'(kcin:ins, Director of 

 t!'C Zooloi^icnl GankMi ol" Aiilwcrp. Mvcu at tlic present 

 clay Ave arc ignorant of the exact locality inhabited I)y 



this rare Jay. 



Yours &e., 

 Turin Zoological Museum. !• Salvadori. 



22nd March, 1902. 



Sirs, — Having long paid particular attention to Baer's 

 Pochard, I was much interested in ^Mr. J. G. ^lillais's note 

 in 'The Ibis^ for last January (p. 192) on the courtship of 

 the species. As a matter of fact, I briefly drew attention 

 to the gesture which he describes some years ago (Journ. 

 As. Soc. Beng. 1897, p. 527), and later recorded that it was 

 common to the female of the species (Proe. As. Soc. Beng., 

 April 1878). 



Since then I have seen the male White-eyed Pochard 

 {Nyroca ferruginea) jerk back its neck in a precisely similar 

 manner to its near ally; but as the neck in this species is 

 shorter and thicker than in Nyroca baeri, the general effect 

 is far less striking. I have not seen the female White-eyed 

 Pochard indulge in this backward jerk of the neck, but she 

 will probably prove to possess the habit, since the so-called 

 pairing-gestures of male birds arc very often shared by the 

 females, being indeed in many cases apparently the expression 

 of several emotions and proper to the whole species. Every- 

 body must have noticed the nodding of the head in the 

 domesticated Mallard, and the erection of the crest and 

 expansion and swinging of the tail in the Muscovy Duck, 

 signs of emotion common to both sexes. 



Returning to Baer's Pochard, it may interest your readers 

 to know that this species has not appeared in our Bazaar 



this winter. 



Yours &e., 

 Indiau Museum, Calcutta. F. FlNN. 



lOth April, 1902. 



Sirs, — Judging from the editorial note in ^ The Ibis,' 

 April 1902, p. 353, it has come upon the Editors as a shock 



