Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 189 



on each shoulder and one lower down under each wing. At 

 the root of the tail on each side of the back there is another 

 white spot. Under parts grey, lightest on the belly. Bill 

 black. Legs and feet black, with greenish along the toes. 



As will be noticed, the coloration of the chicks resembles 

 in general character that of the chicks of the Velvet Scoter, 

 but in the latter the six white spots which adorn the back of 

 the Golden-eye chicks are wanting. 



The little birds were very active and soon got tame and 

 intelligent. They lived principally on ants' eggs and duck- 

 weed. On the 18th of July feathers became visible on the 

 shoulders. On the 8th of August the birds were completely 

 feathered; the flight-feathers, however, were only just be- 

 ginning to grow. Their appearance may be described as 

 follows : — 



Head chocolate-brown, belly and lower breast pearly white. 

 The rest of the bird slaty black, darkest on the underside 

 where it meets the white. The white wing-mark of the 

 adults is present. The legs and toes are yellowish, the webs 

 are black. The iris is chocolate-brown. The bills are rusty. 



About the 25th of August the birds were able to fly and 



practically full-grown. The young birds differ in size in the 



same way as the sexes do in the adults, and are evidently 



male and female. 



I am, Sirs, yours &c., 



F. E. Blaauw. 



" Gooilust," 'sGraveland, 



Hilversum, Holland. 

 September 8th, 1908. 



Sirs, — It may interest you to know that on the passage 

 of my ship down the Red Sea on October 2nd, 1908 

 (lat. 21° 25' N., long. 38° 15' E.), large flocks of Swallows 

 settled on the vessel from about noon till about 4 or 5 p.m. 

 The exact position, as you can see by the map, is at the 

 narrowest part of the Red Sea and evidently chosen by 

 the birds as the proper place to make their crossing. 

 There would be nothing unusual in Swallows settling on 

 the ship except on account of the large numbers on this 



