VOL. X.] NOTES. 23 



about 18 inches, and I recovered the bird by seizing his neck 

 while still lying motionless on the sand. He appeared then 

 to be three-quarters drowned. 



The incident recalls another experience. In March, 1913, 

 when returning from Sudan, I spent a week at Cairo and 

 was equally amazed and interested by the surprising assem- 

 blage of wildfowl that thronged the " Pelican pond " in the 

 Zoological Gardens at Giza; unluckily I have mislaid the 

 note made at the time, but my recollection is that they 

 numbered several himdreds, and this on a small pool of 

 perhaps two acres in extent. The great bulk of them were 

 Shovelers, and I remember wondering why my friend, Mr. 

 M. J. Nicoll, should be so extravagant in this one species ! 

 Soon, however, it dawned upon me that all these 400 or 

 500 ducks were truly wild birds and had settled down 

 in these public gardens, amidst crowds of sightseers, purely 

 of their own free will and for their own convenience, though 

 I doubt whether one man in a thousand who passed by 

 realised that fact. Remember that the pool is everywhere 

 flanked by pathways, while its shores are studded with 

 restaurants, tea-pavilions and, at intervals, a brass band ! 

 Besides the Shovelers, there were many Teal, a few Wigeou. 

 and a single Pochard. 



Now the point of my story is this : frequently while having 

 lunch (sitting almost within arm's-length of these ducks), 

 I noticed that a few of the Shovelers — always females — 

 were constantly diving for food, bringing up some green 

 stuff to the surface and there investigating and dissecting 

 it. This is the only instance within my experience of a 

 surface-feeding duck essaying to dive for food, and I am 

 very familiar with the Shoveler, both in Spain during winter 

 and on the Borders in spring and summer. 



Abel Chapman. 



RUDDY SHELD-DUCKS IN SOMERSET. 



On November 13th, 1915, during the spell of cold weather 

 experienced at that time, two Rviddy Sheld-Ducks {Casana 

 ferruginea), a male and a female, were shot whilst flighting 

 about 6 p.m. on Porlock Marshes, near the sea, west Somerset, 

 by the Rev. J. A. Smart, of Porlock, and kindly presented 

 by him to the Museum of the Somerset ArchjBological and 

 Natural History Society at Taunton Castle. Of course, in 

 the case of birds of this class, which are often kept on orna- 

 mental waters, it is seldom possible to say definitely whether 

 individual captures are genuine visitants or merely escapes 



