FERRUGINOUS OR WHITE-EYED DUCK. 209 



viduals of which I have dates, two were killed in 

 November, five in December, one in January, one in 

 February, two in March, and four in April. 



Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, writing in 1825, say 

 that "Mr. Wigg had two specimens of the castaneous 

 duck, both killed at different times in the neighbourhood 

 of Yarmouth. One of these was presented to Mr. Youell 

 [the other appears to have been eaten]. We have also 

 been informed thab the Rev. G. Glover had a bird of this 

 species, which was shot in Norfolk, a few years since." 

 According to Hunt, his figure was drawn from Mr. 

 YouelPs bird. The Messrs. Paget (1834) state that ex- 

 amples of this species had been killed " in a few instances 

 on Breydon." Mr. Lubbock says that it was in one 

 instance taken in the Ranworth decoy, and the late Mr. 

 R. H. Gurney had a male in his possession, taken in 

 Hempstead decoy, which died in February, 1851, having 

 lived in captivity fifteen years. Mr. E. S. Preston, of 

 Yarmouth, had one of these birds in his collection, which 

 was killed on Breydon, in December, 1829 ; it was a 

 male, not quite adult. This bird passed into the collec- 

 tion of the late Mr. Stevenson, and at his sale was pur- 

 chased for the Norwich Museum. 



Two are mentioned in Mr. Lombe's notes, one a 

 female killed at Rockland, on November 25th, 1826; 

 and the other a male, shot on 16th December, 1839, at 

 Surlingham. Mr. Gurney, jun., tells me that a very fine 

 adult male in the collection at Westwick House, was 

 purchased in the flesh by the late Mr. Petre, at Salt- 

 house, but I believe the date is not recorded. I know of 

 no others till 1850, when one, in the late Mr. Rising's 

 collection, was killed near Horsey Broad by Mr. George 

 Frederick, on the 16th April; on the 6th of November, 

 1855, another was killed in the same locality. These 

 two birds, both adult males, were cased together, and 

 bought at Mr. Rising's sale by Mr. George Hunt. The 

 spring of 1855, which was remarkable for its severity, 



dates mentioned. It would seem that the white-eyed duck made 

 its appearance either during great severity or after storms. All 

 the dates with milder weather were preceded by heavy gales and 

 storms, or the cold on the Continent was particularly severe." 



2D 



