NOTES. 219 



may be interesting. On April 14th I saw about twenty ; 

 on July 27th 1 counted eight, which seemed to be mostly 

 old drakes ; and on August 5th I saw about twenty. This 

 reservoir is a large sheet of water, so there may very possibly 

 have been more. During September 1 frequently saw Wigeon, 

 and I think their numbers increased slightly during October. 

 Unfortunately I was unable to visit the reservoir during May 

 and June. F. A. Monckton. 



LONG-TAILED DUCK IN CHESHIRE. 



A Long-tailed Duck {Harelda glacialis), ajDparently an adult 

 female, frequented Marbury Mere, near Northwich, from the 

 end of July to the end of September, 1910. It was noticed, 

 as a strange duck, by the gamekeeper on July 29th, and on 

 August 6th, 7th and 27th it was seen by Mr. Travers Hadfield, 

 thougli never clearly enough for him to identify it. On 

 September 12th, when in company with Mr. Hadfield, I had 

 an excellent view of it, and saw, by the absence of wing-bar, 

 the white collar and eye-stripe, the short bill and general 

 build of the bird, tliat it was undoubtedly a Long-tailed 

 Duck. Two days later it swam to within fifty feet of my hiding 

 place, in a covert, and I could then clearly see, even without 

 a glass, the lead-blue bill and hazel irides. 



The Long-tailed Duck is only known in Cheshire as an 

 occasional winter-visitor to the estuaries and coasts, and its 

 appearance on an inland water at this season is suspicious. 

 I have made inquiries from several owners of captive wild ducks 

 in Lancashire and Cheshire, but not one of them has ever had 

 this species in captivity. Beyond the fact that the bird 

 remained in one locality for two months — I saw it several 

 times during September, and I believe it was seen at the very 

 end of the month by the keeper — there was nothing in its 

 behaviour to suggest tliat it had been in captivity ; it was 

 very shy, and flew well. T. A. Coward. 



RINGED PLOVERS' UNUSUAL CLUTCHES. 



On May 10th, 1910, on the Crumbles at Eastbourne, I found 

 a nest of the Ringed Plover {.^gialitis hiaticola), containing 

 five eggs, all practically alike. I watched the female off 

 and on the eggs again, the male keeping watch not far off. I 

 saw no sign of a second female, and I have no doubt, from the 

 great similarity of the eggs, that they were the produce of one 

 female. 



In another nest I found two out of the four eggs had tlie 

 usual ground-colour of fawn replaced by blue-green at the 



