Continent, it is questionable whether it would not have been a 

 bird rarely seen in collections in England at this day. I have a 

 duck Gadwall which I shot at Prestwick Carr on the evening of 

 Nov. 28, 1850, and I believe not more than one to two instances 

 are known of its having been met with in this county. The 

 evening before there had been a sharp frost, which had covered 

 the water witli a coating of ice ; quantities of ducks, during the 

 day, kept in the middle, where some water was open, and sat 

 about the edges of the ice. In the evening, two others and my- 

 self, one of whom had the adjoining shooting, watched the ducks 

 coming out. I was in the middle, and the first birds that flew 

 near were two which I thought were Mallards. I shot one, and 

 hit the other, which, however, unfortunately went on. The one 

 which fell dead made a hole in the ice, and disappeared under it ; 

 and though one of the party, who had as good a retriever as could 

 be, came with it, nothing was visible which the dog could see, and 

 we left the bird, he saying he would get it out at daylight and 

 send it. "We again took our places, and I was fortunate cnougli 

 afterwards to get four Wigeon. The bird was duly sent, with a 

 letter ; the writer being well acquainted witli the various sorts 

 of wildfowl he had been accustomed to see remarked that the 

 bird sent was a curious one, and suggested its being a cross be- 

 tween the Wigeon and the common Wild Duck the grey wing 

 and white belly resembling the Wigeon, the rest of the plumage 

 resembling the Wild Duck, and the clay-coloured feet being sup- 

 posed to be between the two. Now how easily this bird might 

 have been set down as a hybrid ; and, had it not fallen into the 

 hands of one interested in natural history, it most probably would 

 h;ive been. Gadwalls are most commonly to be seen in Leaden- 

 hall market in April. I have occasionally seen them in November, 

 but not in the depth of winter. 



The Teal, like the Shoveller and Pintail, dislikes frost und 

 snow, and appears to be a much more inland bird than the 

 Wigeon; it delights, after rain in spring, in the evenings, to 

 walk over the grass land in search of worms ; it also appears to 

 be a summer rather than a winter visitor. Number* come in 



