NOTES. 125 



THE PACIFIC EIDER (Somateria v-nigrum). 



Although the V-mark on Mr. Smalley's specimen of 

 S. mollissima {vide svpra, p. 71) is rather indistinct, that on the 

 Oldham Museum specimen is very clear. In a profile photo- 

 graph now before me the visible arm of the V is practically as 

 large and distinct as the prolongation of the black cap that 

 boi'ders the lower edge of the culmen. In the case of our bird 

 the error was excusable, although the knowledge (ZooL, 1905, 

 p. 142) that it differed from Gray's and Salvadori's descriptions 

 should certainly have aroused our suspicions. 



Mr. Smalley asks for information of Eiders possessing signs 

 of this chevron. I should suggest that owners of skins also 

 note the area of the green bordering the cap, and the shape of 

 the bare spaces of the bill. If the green be found to reach the 

 eye in any British Eider, the European specimen of Dresser's 

 Eider (Saunders' Man., ed. II., p. 460) will need to be re- 

 examined, for I have noticed considerable variation in the shape 

 of the bill in S. mollissima. 



While being quite in accord with the major part of Mr. 

 Smalley's remarks, I cannot refrain from pointing out that the 

 combination of long tertials, yellow bill, and (occasional) 

 black V, said by Sanford to mark the Northern Eider, is found 

 in our specimen. Perhaps someone better endowed for the task 

 than I may lind a vague race, distinguished by the above 

 characters, with a range comprising the eastern coast of Green- 

 land, and the extreme western coasts of Europe. We must 

 remember that if we accept this theory of reversion in the 

 Eiders, we shall have to bear it in mind every time a casual 

 belonging to a genus with British representatives {Larus, for 

 instance) reaches our shores. 



Oldham. ^^^^- Stubbs. 



THE TAIL-FEATHEES OP THE GREBES. 



Mk. W. p. Pycraft, to the July issue of the " Ibis," contributes 

 a short paper on the tail-feathers of the Grebes. So far, these 

 birds have always been described as tail-less, or as having the 

 tail " obsolete." But no attempt seems to have been made to 

 determine the extent of the degeneration which has taken jjlace 

 in these feathers. 



Mr. Pycraft shows that, in the matter of number, there has 

 been a marked reduction, not more than eight being apparently 

 present. Structurally, they appear to be less reduced in Podicipes 

 rollavdi, wherein a fairly perfect vane is still preserved. In the 

 Dabchick {Tachijhaptes Jiuviatilis), however, and in the Red- 

 necked Grebe (Podicipes griseigena), the vanes of the feathers 



