4990 _ Tue Zootocist—Juuy, 1876. 
appearance from any common grebe I had seen before, as it was 
larger, measuring—when held up by the neck—about eleven 
inches. It also had a very conspicuous greenish pink sort of 
membrane at the base of the lower mandible, which faded com- 
pletely in a day or two. The front and sides of the neck are of a 
dark reddish chestnut; the rest of the bird, except the breast, is of 
a dusky hue, and the silvery breast is itself much shaded with the 
same colour. ‘The bill is black with a light tip, and the eyes 
were dark, almost black. The head itself is sleek in appearance, 
and not what I suppose the Sclavonian grebe would be, but it was 
pronounced to be that species by an ornithological reader of the 
‘Zoologist’? who saw it. It seems to me to answer best the 
description of the “black-chin grebe” of ‘ Montagu’s British 
Birds,’ which we know is now considered a variety of the dabchick. 
Though larger than any common grebe I have hitherto seen, yet it 
is not so large as the Sclavonian is described to be, even if it 
answered the description of the latter, which it does not. Is such 
a variety of the common grebe as the one I have described well 
known to the readers of the ‘ Zoologist’? 
Egyptian Goose.—A beautiful male of this lovely species was 
found dead near the river on the 11th of February. Three of the 
birds had been seen occasionally, during the previous fortnight, 
going and returning at flight time, and had been shot at several 
times, but I am told they, as a rule, kept out of range.” The bird 
in question is undoubtedly one of the three, as three or four days 
before its discovery only two geese had been seen by the numerous 
gunners. Whether they were “escapes” or not I would not 
venture to say, but it is somewhat remarkable that a specimen was 
killed in February, 1870, and that and the present are the only 
ones | ever saw. 
Goosander.—Occasionally killed; from the middle of December 
up to the end of February I saw nine, all females or immature 
males. How long are the males attaining their adult dress? as 
several of those I saw were in different conditions of plumage; one 
of them in particular had a lovely salmon-coloured breast and 
belly, but the back had all the gray markings of the immature bird. 
I have but once seen a male in mature plumage killed here, five 
or six years ago. 
Gadwall.—I saw a dreadfully mutilated specimen of this species 
offered for sale on the 15th of December, which had been killed 
