; Birds. 9049 
Note on the occurrence of the Egyptian Goose near Glastonbury.—On the 23rd 
of March I was shown a specimen of the Egyptian goose (Anser egyptiacus), 
which had been shot the day before on Turf Moor, near Glastonbury, Somerset- 
shire. It had been seen flying in the neighbourhood for several days. The elegant 
form of the bird, the minute and delicate pencilling of the plumage, the colours of the 
wings, and, more, especially, the chesnut patch on the breast, readily determined the 
species. In Yarrell’s‘ British Birds’ it is stated of this bird that “ four were shot on 
the Severn, near Bridgewater, in February, 1840.” This appears tu have been near 
the mouth of the Bridgewater river, the Parret, which is but ten or twelve miles from 
the place where the present bird was shot—Thomas Clark ; Halesleigh, April 12, 
1864. 
Wild-fowl in the London Waters. By HENRY Hussey, Esq. 
Four years ago (Zool. 6922) I sent some notes to the ‘ Zoologist,’ 
hoping to get from its correspondents some information on a subject 
which is a puzzle to me, viz. the frequent appearance of wild-fowl in 
the London waters. I was not successful. Mr. Crewe’s letter (Zool. 
7049) does not appear to me to go far in clearing up the difficulty. 
That a few passing wild-fowl, several years ago, occasionally pitched 
and remained a few days in the Regent’s Park Lake, quiet and secluded 
as a great part of that water then was, I can well believe. Colonel 
Hawker, in the ninth edition of his ‘ Intructions to Young Sportsmen,’ 
published in 1844 (p. 508), states that he had, in a previous winter, 
observed at least thirty wild fowl], wigeon, tufted ducks and dun birds, 
in the Regent’s Park water. But that any, or at all events the great 
majority, of the birds I have seen, often very tame, are wild bred, 
I cannot believe, except on better evidence than I have been able to 
obtain. The male unpinioned wigeon Mr. Crewe mentions, I often 
noticed during two or three successive years, and have always sup- 
posed that he was the father of some of the numerous hybrid wigeons 
I have often seen, but only in the Regent’s Park waters, and there 
only occasionally and at considerable intervals: the keepers of this 
park tell me that the hybrids only visit these waters now and then. 
However this wigeon was first introduced into the Regent’s Park, 
I cannot assume, without further evidence, that he was a wild-bred 
bird who bad voluntarily taken up his residence in London, with a 
duck for his wife. The eleven pochards I saw in the Serpentine in 
January and March, 1862 (Zool. 7939), two of the park-keepers told 
me, were all bred in one of the shrubberies on the Serpentine, the 
produce, no doubt, of the pinioned pair I had seen a few years before, 
They appeared to me to be mature birds, not birds of the year, and 
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