5180 THE ZooLocist—DECEMBER, 1876. 
a very handsome appearance. The general colour of the plumage is isabel- 
line, not so clearly rufous as in an old bird.”—Ep.] 
Bewick’s Swan and other Birds at Kingsbridge, Devon.—I have to record 
the occurrence, on the 14th of November, of a specimen of Bewick’s swan. 
A pair of swans were seen on the Kingsbridge Estuary, and after a few 
shots one of them was captured. . I purchased it, and found on examination 
that it was a female of Cygnus Bewickii. Its weight was eleven pounds 
and a half; length, three feet ten inches; eyes very dark hazel. The 
peculiar formation of trachea and sternum sufficiently indicated the species. 
I may also mention the occurrence here of a female longtailed duck (Anas 
glacialis). Shorteared owls are unusually plentiful this season; I have seen 
a great many which have been shot, and a friend of mine informed me that 
he recently flusbed twelve from a small patch of furze.—H. Nicholls. 
Variation of Colour in the Teal.—One day while looking over a large 
quantity of teal, taken in the Ashby Decoy, Brigg, Lincolnshire, I noticed 
that their breasts were of all shades, from dark red to white. I pointed 
this out to the old decoy man, who said that the breasts of all teal on 
leaving the sea are of a deep red, but that the fresh water of the decoy 
blanched them ina very short time if they were not taken. He always 
picks out the red-breasted ones to send to the neighbouring gentry, con- 
sidering them to be the finest. In the winter of 1874 a fine pochard 
(Fuligula ferina) was taken in this decoy, and is now in my collection.— 
Adrian Peacock ; Bottesford Manor, Brigg. 
[Pochards visit this decoy every winter, but from their habit of diving 
back on perceiving themselves in the -decoy pipe they are not so frequently 
taken as the wild duck, teal and wigeon.—Eb.] 
Longtailed Duck near Padstow, Cornwall.—I have lately examined a 
specimen of this arctic duck, which was shot a few days ago, and sent here 
for preservation from the neighbourhood of Padstow. The bird has—what 
I have never hitherto observed in the few specimens which have occurred in 
this district over many years—white scapularies, which I apprehend denotes 
it to be an adult male in winter plumage ; besides which it is decidedly larger 
than the other examples I have seen, and which all had a generally dark brown 
dorsal plumage, denoting the female or young male of the year.—Z. H. Rodd. 
[The white scapulars no doubt denote the adult male bird in winter 
plumage. In summer these feathers are chesnut, each with a black centre. 
Adults of this species are rarely met with off our southern shores, although 
in some winters immature examples are now and then obtained. In the 
Albert Memorial Museum at Exeter, however, is an adult male longtailed 
duck in summer plumage (still more unusual), which is said to en 
shot on the Exe in 1847.—Ep.] aN \SH wie 
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