2106 The Zoologist — April, 1870. 



says Mr. Neligan, " I heard that a very strange bird was constantly seen on the lake, 

 and, in common with three or four others, I made every effort to get the bird : she 

 was, however, so very wary and shy that it was impossible to get within shot of her. 

 After she had been disturbed by our efforts she left the lake, and the next I heard of 

 her was her being seen on one of the large bays in the north of this county, about 

 twelve or fourteen miles from the lake. She was, I believe, fired at once or twice on 

 the bay, but was nut hii. She again appeared on the lake during the summer, and in 

 August was shot. Some friends of mine watched the bird very closely, and, observing 

 her haunts, one of ihem lay under cover in one of the haunt<i, and so got a shot within 

 range : he slightly wounded her, and brought her home, lo all appearance not much 

 hurl: the bird would not eat and pined away, dying in a few days." Prior to the 

 appearance of the shieldrake, Mr. Neligan says, the wind for some days was from 

 north to norih-east, and that the bird remained on or about the lake and neighbouring 

 bay from its first appearance in March till killed in August. It had a very peculiar 

 musical note, and unlike that of any of the duck or goose tribe thai Mr. Neligan had 

 heard. I have repeatedly seen the bird at Messrs. Williams's, of Dame-street. It is 

 a male bird in second summer plumage — in other words, a little beyond one year old : 

 the plumage much resembles that of an adult, and would be so this spring had the 

 bird lived. Mr. Neligan is wrong in thinking it a female, unless dissection has proved 

 it an excessively old one in part plumage of the male. By a reference to Newman's 

 Montagu (I86(>) I find that only four have occurred in Britain to that date, three iu 

 England and one in Ireland: the latter, a fine male, is in the Museum of the Royal 

 Dublin Society. This makes the fifth recorded Brili>h specimen. — H. Blake- Knox ; 

 March 2, 1870. 



Smew at Yarmouth. — .\n adult male smew, in splendid plumage, was shot at 

 Burgh, near Yarmouth, on the 3(Hh of December last, and forwarded to me for 

 preservation. The smew is rather rare on this coast. — T. E. Gunn. 



Rare Grebes in Devonshire. — Several grebes, both great crested and Sclavonian, 

 have made their appear.iuce on the coast of Devon during the late severe weatljtr, 

 which has not been the case for many years past. I saw a Sclavonian grebe shot 

 about an hour ago. — J. Gatcombe ; March 8, 1870. 



Rrdnecked Grebe at Teignmoulh. — A specimen of the rednecked grel)e was sent me 

 from Teignmouth. on the 'I'laA of February. — Cecil Smith. 



Sclavonian Grebe on the Wandle. — On the loth of February our gardener shot a 

 specimen nf the dusky grebe, a young male, on our water at Carshalton. — A. H. Smee ; 

 March 5, 1870. 



Sclavonian Grebe at Taunton. — I saw, a few days ago, a specimen of the Sclavonian 

 grebe in the flesh, which had been shot in a brick-field opposite the convent on the 

 Shore-ditch road. It was seen, in company with another, to settle on a small pond in 

 the field ; the other, however, was not shot. The person who killed it gave it to 

 Mr. Biiigood, the curator of the Museum, for his private collection. The bird was an 

 adult female, in winter plumage. It was killed on Friday, the 4lh of March. — 

 William J. Chalk ; The College School, Taunton. 



Rullhroated Diver on the Devonshire Coatt. — Redihroated divers (Coli/mhits 

 septenliionnlis) are very numerous on our coast at the present lime, which is often 

 the case after a severe winter. The young birds are now assuming the plumage of 

 the more beautifully spotted bird of the two figured by Bewick under the names of the 



