Birds. 2705 



water-lily or the floating Potamogeton, and thi? , apparently, by a power of balancing 

 their bodies, which must far surpass that of the expertest rope-dancer, as their long 

 toes — incompetent to grasp so small a perch — could not lend more than a very trifling 

 aid to their holding on. This act I have more than once viewed with admiration ; 

 and it is a pretty sight, too, to see the bird thread its way out of the middle of a thick 

 thorn-bush, which it will do most cleverly, and apparently without ruffling a feather : 

 and these things must, I should think, have been noticed by many and many a sports- 

 man besides myself. Besides their ordinary food, mollusks, grain, grasses and water- 

 plants, they are partial in hard weather to the water-cress which the unfrozen running 

 streams enable them to procure abundantly. They may very commonly be seen in 

 rick-yards near their haunts, picking up grain, in company with pheasants or pigeons, 

 or sometimes both, with whom they appear to be upon terms of the utmost good- 

 fellowship. I know well a roosting-place of theirs where they and the pheasants 

 slumber in company, and where, too, a whole tribe of redwings and hosts of little 

 birds pass the winter's night. Fieldfares and redwings, I may remark, en passant, in 

 in these parts roost in trees, generally copses and small plantations, and, so far as I 

 have ever observed, not on the ground. In the breeding-time the waterhens appear 

 to fly a good deal by night ; at least at that season it is common to hear their cry in 

 the air as late as ten or eleven o'clock : I have frequently wondered what can cause 

 this. Their eggs are usually seven or eight, sometimes fewer, sometimes nine or ten ; 

 and they would be far more numerous than they are but for their many destructive 

 enemies, the rat, the stoat, and, worst of all, the pike. As it is, I know no spot in my 

 own neighbourhood that affords them food and shelter, be it pond, stream or " pit," 

 where they are not to be found. They afford excellent eating, either cooked like a 

 duck or in pies. The thick black down that covers the skin requires strong measures 

 to get it off: scalding I believe, is the most efficacious. Aldrovandi speaks of them as 

 having been in his time an esteemed article of food. — A. Evans; Market Bosworth, 

 December 20, 1849. 



Occurrence of the Pink-footed Goose (Anser branchyrhynchus) near York. — A very- 

 fine specimen of the pink-footed goose was shot on the 15th of January, at Haxby, 

 five miles north-east of York, and came alive into Mr. Graham's possession. It was 

 one of a flock of six, but its companions all escaped. — W. M. E. Milner ; Nunwp- 

 pleton, January, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Swan Goose (Anser Cygnoides) in Norfolk. — I have just seen 

 in the flesh, a remarkably fine and perfect specimen of the Anser Cygnoides, lately 

 taken in a Norfolk decoy, and purchased by a poulterer in Leadenhall Market. 

 This noble bird seems fitted for all climates in a state of domestication : it is a com- 

 mon ornament of lakes and ponds, not only in this country but on the Continent. 

 Bewick, who includes the swan goose in his ' British Birds,' informs us that in his 

 time it was pretty common in a wild as well as domesticated state, but does not 

 descend into particulars or give any record of individual instances of its occurrence. 

 It seems probable that its occurrence at large is generally to be traced to some suffi- 

 cient cause, as the escape of a young bird bred in a state of domestication, and 

 before the bill, feet or wings had received any of the marks and mutilations so com- 

 monly inflicted on them. — Edward Newman ; January, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Merganser (Merganser senator) near Montgomery. — A mergan- 

 ser was shot on the river Severn, at Bronafron, near Montgomery, by a friend of mine, 

 on the 2nd of this month. There were three of them in company, and they rose from 



