94 BRITISH BIRDS. 



of that handsome bird the Marsh-Harrier {Circus oeruginosus). 

 I shall never forget the majestic wheeHng flight of these birds 

 as they quartered the ground in search of prey. The exact 

 locality it will perhaps not be wise to name for the present, 

 but of the identity of the birds there can be no doubt. 



W. P. Pycraft. 



DUCKS' EGGS AND DOWN. 



I HAVE read with considerable interest Mr. Noble's article 

 on Ducks in the June issue of British Birds. In the main 

 I am in entire agreement with his remarks, especially as regards 

 the futihty of attempting to identify by the down alone. 

 I take sHght exception, however, to his remarks on the 

 Gad wall. I have observed, perhaps, a dozen nests of this 

 species in Norfolk, and in two cases at least there are numerous 

 white feathers which are indistinguishable from those of 

 the Wigeon, and which, in conjunction mth precisely similar 

 down and precisely similar eggs, render identification 

 extremely difficult. 



I have seen the cream-coloured variety in eggs of the Pintail, 

 but I wonder if ]\ir. Noble has come across the variety w^here 

 the eggs are as vivid a green as those of the Golden-eye. As 

 regards downless Pochards' and Mallards' nests, my experience 

 of the former is small, being confined to one locaHty, where 

 the nests are always floating structures, and down is not 

 abundant, but I have found, perhaps, haK-a-dozen Mallards' 

 nests built close to water, and amongst thick sedge, which were 

 without a particle of do\Mi. 



Norman Gilroy. 



[The Editors have kindly allowed me a view of the above 

 note from Mr. Norman Gilroy. Doubtless the number of 

 proprietors over whose estates Mr. Gilroy has leave to prosecute 

 his investigations is larger than those who have extended a 

 hke permission to myself ; in any case, I cannot lay claim 

 to having examined so many nests of the Gadwall as Mr. 

 Gilroy has. I have seen white feathers in Gadwalls' nests, 

 but in my opinion they are not tjrpical, and as the object of 

 the article was identification, they were excluded. I have 

 not yet seen a nest containing only white feathers, and were I 

 to find such a nest, I should consider it necessary to procure 

 the female bird before identification could be established. 

 Some of the patterned feathers have always been present in 

 the nests I have examined, and it is these feathers which give 

 the key to the solution. — Heatley Noble.] 



