348 BRITISH BIRDS. 



My correspondents, to whom I owe much of the information given by 

 me under the unfortunate heading of the " British Marsh-Titmouse," 

 are unable to satisfy me convincingly as to whether their observations 

 apply to Parus palustris dresseri or Parus atricapillus kleinschmidti. 



Under these circumstances I feel it my duty, so as to avoid possible 

 confusion hereafter, to write as I have done. The question, therefore, 

 now stands : — Do both the Willow- and Marsh-Tit occiu- in Dumfries- 

 shire ; or, if only one, which ? 



Hugh S. Gladstone. 



A BAIKAL TEAL IX DEVONSHIRE. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — On February 3rd I received in the flesh an adult male Baikal 

 Teal (Nettion formosiim), which was shot by a coast-gunner near Ply- 

 mouth on January 26th, 1911. The specimen was first noticed by my 

 ■friend, Mr. Charles Tracy, who sent the bird to me as something he 

 had not seen before. The bird was very fat but somewhat decomposed 

 at the time of arrival, but I have managed to make a good skin of it. 

 The position of the Baikal Teal as a British bird is at present somewhat 

 doubtful, but it has as much claim to inclusion in our lists as many 

 foreign visitors, for there is no reason that it should not visit us amongst 

 the mass of duck that are bred in Siberia and come westwards in winter. 

 On the other hand, numbers of imported Baikal Teal are now on private 

 waters in this country, whilst it has undoubtedly bred at VVoburn 

 and probably elsewhere. J. G, Millais. 



fWe should not accept the addition of the Baikal Teal to the British 

 list for the very reason that it is so frequently kept in captivity, and 

 therefore liable to escape, It is said to have been obtained in France 

 and Ital}', but its usual winter-quarters are in China and Japan. — Eds.] 



