203 



When swimming on the water they look exactly like 

 miniature ducks, and all their movements both in the air 

 and the water are exceptionally brisk and graceful. I have 

 never seen them dive. 



Shot and presented by Mr. A. F. Griffith. The artificial 

 marsh marigolds were made and given by Mrs. Heathcote, 

 of 15 Buckingham Place. The other marsh plants are from 

 the locality of the nest. 



LITTLE BITTERN. 

 Case 317. 



This species formerly nested in England, but is now a 

 rare visitor only. 



The specimen is a young male, captured alive in a 

 stable at Hove on the morning of September 3rd, 1894. 

 Some of the extraordinary attitudes assumed by this bird 

 after its capture are described in the Zoologist for 1894, 

 p. 454, and it is stuffed in one such attitude. It was 

 presented by Mr. Henry Willett. 



RUDDY SHIELDRAKE. 



Case 318. 



This beautiful species is a very rare visitor to England 

 from the south. The specimen in the case was obtained in 

 September, 1890, by the late Eev. H. D. Gordon at Harting, 

 in the extreme west of Sussex, and presented to this Museum 

 by his widow on his death in 1897. 



PALLAS'S SAND GROUSE. 

 Case 319. 



These wanderers from the Central Asian Steppes 

 occasionally migrate westward in considerable numbers, and 

 though excessively rare in Britain at other times, are then 

 obtained somewhat commonly. Such an immigration 

 happened in 1888, and some of the visitors survived the 

 winter and even succeeded in nesting the following spring. 



The two specimens in the case were obtained in 1888 

 near Langham, Norfolk, and were presented by Mr. Neale 

 F.R Eippingall. 



