218 BRITISH BIRDS. 



year, so that in the case of this bird, as with the Sparrow- 

 Hawk, ample material is readily available. Among my own 

 skins I do not think I have one female that showed a right 

 ovary on dissection. F. Menteith Ogilvie. 



Some additional information will be found in the introductory 

 section to the Naturgeschichte der Vogel Mitteleuropas. Vol. I. 

 (1905), p. 60 (Der Bau des Vogelkorpers). In this article, by 

 Professor 0. Taschenberg, after stating that as a rule the female 

 sexual organs are not symmetrically developed and that the 

 left ovary and oviduct are alone functional, the ^^Titer goes on 

 to state that, " it hajipens not very rarely that remains 

 of the right ovary are retained, especially in the Sparrow- 

 Hawk and Buzzard, much more irregularly in other Accipitres, 

 and still more rarely in the Owls ; isolated cases have been 

 observed in the Pigeons, Parrots (e.g., in Sitface macavuanna), 

 in Corvus corone, Ciconia ciconia and nigra. Remains of 

 the right oviduct have also been occasionally found both in 

 the shape of a string at the distal end as well as a duct opening 

 into the cloaca. Examples of this are the domestic Pigeon, 

 Duck, Goose, Whooper Swan, White Stork, Coot, Waterhen, 

 Short-eared Owl and Sea-Eagle." (Translation.) 



In the same work (Vol. V. (1900), p. 70), O. von Riesenthal 

 quotes Dr. Gadow as stating that " according to Stannius the 

 right ovary is tolerably developed in Astur and Buteo, but 

 much less consistently in the other Raptores." (Translation.) 



Probably the exceptions referred to by New^ton were those 

 mentioned by Professor Taschenberg, among which the 

 Sparrow-Hawk is definitely recorded. F. C. R. Jourdain. 



PINTAILS IN STAFFORDSHIRE. 

 In the Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club for 

 1909, 1 reported that two immature Pintails (Dafila acuta) had 

 been shot on December 11th, 1909, near Stone, by Messrs. 

 Gilbert and Neil Harris. This year (1910) five of these ducks 

 (all immature) have been obtained at the same place. The 

 Victoria History says of this species: — "A winter visitor of which 

 several occurrences have been recorded." W. Wells Bladen. 

 [The articles in the Victoria History were written about 1905, 

 and much material has come to hand since. The Pintail, 

 though far from common, appears to occur fairly regularly 

 and generally in immature plumage. — Eds.] 



WIGEON IN SUMMER IN STAFFORDSHIRE. 

 The following dates at which I have seen Wigeon [Mareca 

 penelope) during 1910 on Bellfields Reservoir, Staffordshire. 



