2064 The Zoologist — March, 1870. 



the hands of a friend of mine, Mr. W. Fair, of Abbotts Ann, a thorough sportsman, 

 and one of the best shots iu Hants. This occurred on Saturdiiy, the 29th of January. 

 On the following Friday I rode over to make inquiries of my friend, and, if possible, 

 get a peep at the bird, and glean all particulars. Sure enough the main facts were 

 correct: the bird was found alive in the rick, and some little distance from the ouiside, 

 but in the most emaciated condition possible. The warmth of my friend's dining 

 room, and some small pitces of raw heel forced down its throat, soon brought the bird 

 round sufficiently for it to stand on its legs. The next day (Sunday) it had so far 

 recovered as to run about the room and set up its feathers in a menacing manner; at 

 the same time it would readily take small pieces of raw meat from the hand. Although 

 my friend used every endeavour to preserve the bird's life, it died on the following 

 morning, aud, on my arrival, was most obligingly handed over to me for preservalion. 

 The bird was a male, in good plumage, but in the most wretchedly starved coudilion 

 imaginable, and before it was skinned weighed just two ounces! There was no 

 appearance of any wound, but the bird was no doubt unable to lake its migratory flight, 

 and had wurked its way into the pea-rick as far as possible for warmth. How long it 

 had been there is hard to say, or whether it had obtained a very scanty supply of food 

 in so confined a space. Pea-ricks usually abound with coleopterous insects, especially 

 CoccineliiB. The stomach contained only the remains of the small pieces of raw beef. 

 — Henry Recks. 



Eider Duck in Dublin Bay.— Since the middle of December, 1869, a considerable 

 flock of eider ducks (Anas nwllisiima) have frequented our bay : I find they ha\e been 

 noticed by several persons. 1 have not seen the fluck myself, but "white-backed 

 ducks of a large size" have been quoted to me, by which description I guessed them 

 to be eide s. To-day, owing to the kindness of Messrs. Williams, taxidermists, 

 3, Dame Street, I am enabled to a ceriainly to record the occurrence of this species in 

 our waleis last December. 1 was shown a fine young male in a transiiiuu stale of 

 plumage, being equally in first plumage and that of the forthcoming spring, which 

 hitler much resembles that of an adult male, though I believe the eider does not breed 

 its first spring, and also that, like many of our common ducks, joung males at a year 

 old, though iu similar plumage to adult birds, are neither so pure in colours nor so 

 plumed as old birds. This bird was received iu the flesh: it was shut by Mr. William 

 Henderson, of Clontarf, on the 27lh of December, 1669. Thompson (vol. iii. p. 1 14) 

 mentions one taken alive at Balbriggan, in this county, in 1840, on the 23rd of May. 

 This is the first specimen I have seen killed iu Dublin County.—//. Blakt-Knox ; 

 January 21, 1870. 



Rednecked Grebe in Bedfordshire.— WhWe at Wilden, six miles north-east of Bed- 

 ford, 1 received a rednecked grebe {Podiceps rubricottis), which had been picked up on 

 Friday, the 1 1th of February, in a farm-yard about a mile and a half from the river 

 Ouse. It proved upon dissection to be a female, aud was in winter plumage. The 

 neck is slightly rufous in colour, and the cheeks are lighter than the surrounding 

 parts, thus bearing slight indications of the approaching spring plumage.— William J. 

 Chalk ; Tlie College School, Taunton. 



Great Northern Diver in the Midland Counties. — In addition to the one men- 

 tioned by Sir Oswald Mosley (S. S. 1981), I have to record the occurrence of another 

 great norihern diver iu the Midlands, shot in November last, on a pool on Mr. Ward's 

 estate at Wonibourne, by the gamekeeper. Curiously enough, as it rose to make its 



