SOME BIRD NOTES 243 



BIRD EXTERMINATION 



The following facts are written without comment. The 

 reader may place what construction he chooses upon them. 



On September 4th, 1906, thirteen ducks were observed to 

 come in from seaward and alight on the north-west side of 

 Breydon. An amateur puntsman named Youngs, who was 

 lurking under the walls hard by, immediately sculled after 

 them, and got a charge of B.B.'s into their midst with telling 

 effect. Nine birds were killed or maimed, and although 

 they had on arrival appeared tired and remarkably tame, 

 the wounded ones, by diving and the use of their wings, 

 gave him an arduous half-hour in retrieving them, by doub- 

 ling after them, and by the use of his shoulder-gun. One 

 bird, spoiled by decapitation for a " specimen," was eaten by 

 Mr. Youngs ; the other eight were sold to Mr. Saunders, a 

 local taxidermist. A tenth wounded bird managed to reach 

 the marshes, but was soon after picked out of a ditch by a 

 marshman named Dan Banham, who ended its career in the 

 oven. I called on Mr. Saunders on the 5th, and saw four 

 birds still in the flesh, four having already been made into 

 skins. They were unmistakably red-crested pochards (Netta 

 rufina. Pallas). They were, of course, by no means so 

 distinguished in appearance as birds shot in nuptial dress ; 

 the plumage, to my mind, greatly resembled that of an adult 

 female smew ; and, indeed, the general contour of the birds 

 was slim and rakish, like that dainty little creature. The 

 white shoulder-patches, and that of the lesser wing-coverts, 

 secondaries, and primaries, were very conspicuous. The toes 

 of six of the birds were Naples yellow, with a suggestion of 

 redness, the webs being blackish ; these were males. The 

 other two had greenish tinted toes. I suggested these were 

 females, and this proved to be so on dissection. The cap was 

 reddish brown, and the beak scarlet-lake. We had a look at 

 the windpipe, and were much struck with its peculiarities of 

 conformation. I made a rough water-colour sketch of the 

 best bird, and obtained three large parasites (Trinotum 

 luridum 1 ) which, under the microscope, look hairy and for- 



1 On my forwarding these parasites to Mr. R. Hancock, of Birmingham, he 

 identified them as Trinotum luridum, one perfect, the other two in varying stages 

 of growth. He informs me that this parasite has been found on the wigeon, 

 golden eye, pintail, teal, smew, and goosander. 



