184 Mr. H. Saundei's on Birds 



Of tlie water-birds I can say little. The Cormorant occurs 

 on the lakes ; the Grey Heron was sometimes seen flagging 

 along the low shores near Neuch&tel ; the Purple Heron is 

 a visitor; the Squacco Heron is common on passage, and 

 may perhaps be found nesting among the reedy swamps near 

 Orbe, where the Bittern used to breed, though drainage has 

 much diminished the area of its haunts. The Little Bittern 

 is widely distributed and nests as near Lausanne as St. Sul- 

 pice. A Flamingo {PJicBnicopterus roseus) obtained on the 

 Lake of Neuchatel on October 19th, 1865, is in the museum 

 of that town ; so are also local examples of the Grey Lag, 

 White-fronted, Lesser White-fronted, and Bean Geese ; as 

 well as such maritime species as the Eider Duck, the Velvet 

 Scoter, and others. The western half of the Neuchatel lake is 

 frequented, so long as the water is open, by almost all the 

 Ducks in the European list ; and Lake Leman (which never 

 freezes), though too deep to afford good feeding-ground, has 

 attracted almost an equal number of species, though fewer 

 individuals. Those which I have identified were the Golden- 

 eye (C/aw^w/a ^/awdow), common in February and March ; 

 the Tufted Duck {FuUgula cristata), which is semi-domesti- 

 cated at Geneva; and the Pochard {F.ferina), seen in April 

 near the marshy delta formed by the Rhone, where a good 

 many Teal are found. The following, however, may be 

 mentioned under separate headings. 



COSMONETTA HISTRIONICA (Liun.). 



M. Bastien^s collection at Lausanne contains a male Har- 

 lequin Duck shot by him at Lully, on the lake, September 

 12th, 1865. 



Mergus merganser, Linn. 



The Goosander nests (or has nested) on the island of 

 St. Pierre, in the Lake of Bienne, and also near Auvernier, 

 on the Lake of Neuchatel, where the low sandy shore is 

 fringed with pollards. There, early on the morning of May 

 18th, I had an excellent view of an adult male, and the 

 parents with the three downy nestlings are in the Museum of 

 Neuchatel. In December 1890 and January 1891 a flock 

 consisting of fourteen were often seen in front of our windows : 



