Vol. xvi.] so 



Mr. J. G. MiLiiAis exhibited two male examples of the 

 Common Pochard {FuVkjuUi ferina) in eclipse-plumage, 

 and made the following remarks : — 



" At the beginning" of August the male Pochard assiimes 

 a dress resembling that of the female, but the scajjulars are 

 alwa3's lighter and more transversely barred, and the 

 feathers of the rump are darker. Unless in perfect health, 

 Diving-Ducks in confinement will not assume an eclipse- 

 plumage, so that observations taken under these circum- 

 stances have led certain naturalists to infer that this 

 species, and other Diving-Ducks, do not change into an 

 eclipse-dress." 



Mr, BoNHOTE stated that he was very pleased to have 

 had an oi^portunity of examining these birds, as he had 

 never before seen Pochards in that plumage, and those he 

 had kept in confinement had not assumed it. He had been 

 told that the White-eyed Pochard {Fuligula nyroca) had no 

 eclipse-plumage, and he suggested that possibly in these 

 species we were approaching a stage where the eclipse- 

 plumage was either only beginning to be assumed or to 

 be lost. 



[Note. — Fidigula ferina in eclij^se-plumage is fully 

 described and figured by Naumann [cf. Naturgesch Vog. 

 Mitteleuropas, x., pp. 174-181; pi. xiv., fig. 2 (1901)]. 

 This plumage is also mentioned by Seebohm, Hist. Brit. 

 Birds, iii., p. 578 (1885). 



The male of the White-eyed Pochard [Fidigula lu/roca) 

 in full and eclipse-plumage is figm-ed by Namnann {torn, 

 cit., pi. X., fig. 4, and pi. xiv., fig. 1). 



Probably every species of Duck in which the male is 

 more brightly coloured than the female assumes an eclipse- 

 plumage, (cf. Guide to Gallery of Birds in the British 

 Museum, p. G8 (1905).— Ed.] 



On behalf of Mr. J. E. Harting, Mr. H. Scherren 

 exhibited a supposed hybrid Duck, which had been taken 

 in the Marsh Farm Decoy at Brad well, near Maldon, 



