268 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vii. 



WOOD-PIGEON SWALLOWING POTATOES. 



The potatoes shown in the accompanying illustration were 

 found in the crop of a Wood-Pigeon [Columha p. palumhus) 

 shot at Crosby, near Liverpool. From the size of the 



POTATOES FROM CROP OP WOOD-PIGEON (maf. size). 



potatoes it would seem almost unpossible for a pigeon to 

 swallow them. I have shot a great number of these birds 

 and have never before found their crops to contain potatoes. 



A. W. Marriage. 



[Almost anything is credible of a bird which can hold 

 1,020 grains of corn in its crop or 144 field-peas and 7 

 large beans (c/. Yarrell, 4th ed.. Vol. III., p. 4). Collinge 

 {Food of Birds, p. 67) quotes potatoes as having occurred on 

 27 occasions, 94 specimens having been identified. — ^Eds.] 



BAER'S POCHARD IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 



About the middle of April, 1911, a man saw three ducks 

 on the Trent, and killed them all with one shot. He took 

 them to Rose, taxidermist of Nottingham, who gave him 

 sixpence each for them. Taking one to be a variety of the 

 Tufted Duck he preserved it for me, and ate the others, 

 which were Tufted Ducks. When I saAV this bird I said it 

 was not a Tufted Duck but a Ferruginous Pochard. It 

 was cased and placed in my collection, where many saw 

 it, but it was not until one day in July, 1913, that the 

 Honourable Gerald Legge saw it and informed me that it 

 was a Baer's Pochard {Nyroca baeri), a very rare bird, only 

 one other having been killed in England, and that at Tring. 



J. Whitaker. 



[The fact that ducks of many kinds are nowadays con- 

 stantly put down on ornamental waters unpinioned, with 



