VOL. XIII.] NOTES. 85 



SPOONBILL IN HANTS. 



Hearing that a Spoonbill {Platalea I. leiicorodia) had been 

 seen several times recently on the Blackwater (in Hampshire), 

 I went down there on June 22nd, 191 9, and ascertained from 

 John Crouch, the keeper, that he saw the bird first on May 

 24th, and from that time onward on several occasions up 

 to about June 14th, in fact, whenever he went there. He 

 is well acquainted with the bird, having seen it before on 

 several occasions. None of the ten records quoted in the 

 Birds of Hampshire (p. 206) appl}' to the month of June. 



Thomas H. C. Troubridge. 



AMERICAN BLUE-WINGED TEAL IN ANGLESEY. 



At the end of last season (1919) near Holland Arms, Anglesej', 

 I shot a male American Blue-winged Teal [Anas discors). 

 The bird rose from a marsh near some pools. iVt the time, 

 there were several flocks of Common Teal (Anas c. crecca) 

 on and around these pools. During the winter these pools 

 are frequented by large numbers of wildfowl, mostly Mallard, 

 Teal and Wigeon, which come from an estuary about four 

 miles away. There is no private water anywhere in the 

 county, as far as I know, where fancy waterfowl are kept, 

 and during the course of nearly twenty years regular shooting 

 here I have never yet come across any semi-tame or very 

 imusual waterfowl. I have kept the skin. 



L. R. A, Gatehouse. 

 [Mr. T. A. Coward, who has seen the skin, remarks upon the 

 prismatic colour of the speculum. When viewed at various 

 angles it was black, showing but little gloss, metallic reddish- 

 bronze or brilliant metallic green. The crescentic white 

 patch in front of the eye w^as slightly flecked with dark grey. 

 There was nothing in the condition of the plumage or feet 

 to lead one to suppose that it had been in captivity.] 



LONG-TAILED DUCK FEEDING ON GRAIN. 



Early in March 191 9 I had forwarded to me from the 

 Orkneys, a male Long-tailed Duck [Clangula hyemalis) 

 which had been shot on February 27th in the Bay of Kirkwall. 



When I had completed the skinning of the bird, I pro- 

 ceeded to the routine examination of the stomach contents, 

 and was surprised on opening the viscus, to find them to 

 consist entirely of wheat grain, and to exhibit a total absence 

 of the small bivalves and marine forms usually selected. 



The presence in the Bay of Kirkwall at that time of a 



