11-56 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



the neck and slightly winging the female with the same ball. She, 

 however, rose and flew slowly over Mr. Griffiths who shot her. 



The birds turned out to be Swans, and were identified with the assist- 

 ance of Captain White, 117th Mahrattas, as being Mute Swans Cygnus olor 

 and tallied in every respect with the description in Indian Ducks and their 

 allies. The male was pure white, but the female was a very light lead grey 

 on the back, and must, therefore, have been an immature bird. Abdul Aziz 

 is a well recognised shikari in these parts, his experience extending well 

 over thirty years, but he has not seen such birds in the neighbourhood of 

 Jashk before. 



Jashk, F. G. STEINHOFF, 



23rd February 1911. Medical Officer, Indo-European Telegraphs. 



[As far as we are aware this is the first record of this Swan in Persia, but it is 

 known to occur in Egypt.Arabia, Asia Minor, Afghanistan andN.-W. India. — Eds-] 



NO. XVIII.— THE DWARF GOOSE, ANSER ERYTHROPUS, 

 NEAE FYZABAD. 



To-day whilst on the river Gogra, which flows past here, I came across 

 a flock of geese, amongst which I noticed four very much smaller birds 

 than the usual Indian geese. Later on in the day I very luckily came 

 across this flock for a second time and managed to bring to bag one (I 

 think a female) of these smaller birds. 



Looking up its description in Indian Ducks and their allies, I came to the 

 conclusion it must be a "Dwarf Goose." I am sending the skin down to you 

 for identification — unfortunately in skinning, the man entrusted with the 

 work cut off the legs, wings and beak, which will spoil it for the specimen I 

 intended it to be. 



Fyzabad. G. H. PLINSTON, 



23rd February 1911. XI Rajputs. 



[The remains of the bird are those of a Dwarf Goose, an uncommon species in 

 India.thoug-h according- to Blanford it is common in Persia where it breeds — Eds.] 



No. NIX.— NOTES ON DUCKS AT KOHAT. 



1 am sending you by parcel post to-day a skin of a female stiff-tailed 

 duck, Erismatura leucocephala as I see from "Indian Ducks and their allies'" 

 that this is considered a rare bird, and thought you might care to have the 

 skin. I shot it a few days ago on a large tank in the salt range near Lilla, 

 and I saw about 20 more at least ; another man in my Regiment, who was 

 shooting further west also shot two, and I saw a lot more, so it appears 

 this duck is not so rare as is frequently supposed. 



I also noticed a large number of the common Sheldrake, Tadorna cornuta 

 and shot one. Neither of these two ducks have I ever seen before in this 



