198 THE BIRDS OF OXFORDSHIEE. 



less. Yarrell gives the weight of a Mallard as up to three 

 pounds and a half, and many ducks will weigh two pounds 

 and a half. Although the difference between these smaller 

 ducks and our home-bred birds is slight upon comparison, it is 

 easily seen when the birds are freshly killed, and the former 

 are, I believe, well known to dealers as ' foreign fowl.' 



On Otmoor wildfowl were formerly so abundant as to 

 enable certain men to gain their livelihood by shooting in 

 winter, and some such are still living in Charlton-on-Otmoor ; 

 but the winter shooting has greatly fallen off there, and the 

 same may be said of the Cherwell valley. In the latter case 

 this is due in a great measui-e to the better drainage of the 

 meadows, and to the cleaning out of the bed of the river, 

 which enables the water to get away more quickly, the floods 

 running off very rapidly in consequence. 



On the 12th September, 1885, I saw a nearly white variety 

 of the Wild Duck on Clattercote Reservoir; his brilliant 

 yellow bill, seen through the glass, suggested a cross with 

 some domestic variety, or with the ' call ' duck. When 

 shooting at Adderbury, near Nell Bridge, on the 4th Octo- 

 ber, 1884, we bagged a curious light buff variety, a duck, 

 which I described in the Zoologist (1885, p. 30). I have 

 on more than one occasion seen a precisely similar variety 

 among domesticated birds. 



THE GADWALIi. ^ I 



Anus strepera. 

 The Gadwall is a rare visitor. In January, 1833, the 

 Messrs. Matthews obtained a male, and in the following 

 winter a female, both of which were shot near Standlake, 

 and they stated that it had also been met with in other 

 parts of the comity [Zoologist, p. 2539). Mr. C. E. Ruck- 

 Keene has a Gadwall which was shot at Henley-on-Thames 

 some years ago {in lit.). 



