2774 Birds. 



neck and inside of wings white : cheek, line from frontal plate extending over the eye, 

 and neck, pale hrown, with minute dusky stripes : breast and under tail-coverts yel- 

 lowish brown, with dark brown horse-shoe-shaped bars : belly and thighs brownish 

 (rusty) black, without distinct markings : upper tail-coverts very dark, with chesnut- 

 brown spots and bars : tertiaries nearly reaching to the end of the primaries : tail, 

 eighteen feathers, extending 2 inches beyond longest primary : legs and feet dark 

 orange : webs and under surface of foot and tarsus black : bill greenish black : nail 

 black : laminae projecting beyond the margin. 



Measurements compared with large specimen of Boschas. 



Boschas. 



inches. inches. 



Total length 24£ 24£ 



Length of tail 3£ 3£ 



Length of wing (second quill-feather longest) 10 llj 



Length of bill to rictus 2\ 2^ 



Length of rictus to back of head 2 



Length of nail to nostril l£ 



Length of middle toe 2\ 2 



Length of tarsus 2 If 



Height at rictus i 



Width at rictus f 



Width near point J 



Measurement of Sternum as compared with Boschas. 



Boschas. 



inches. inches. 



Length of inner surface following curve 3 J 3 \ 



Width of ditto at narrowest point If If 



Width of ditto at widest point 2^ If 



Length of outer surface following convexity 3g 3£ 



Length from point of keel to diaphragm 4 3# 



Length of oval opening If lj 



In Anas Boschas the keel is ^th of an inch deeper in its entire course than in the 

 specimen I have described, and the inner surface is more concave. — Edmund Thomas 

 Higgins ; Edinburgh, February 11, 1850. 



Ducks Nesting in Trees. — Mr. Field Nicholson, of Wooton, informs me that two 

 years ago, when fishing near to Thornton Abbey (Barton, Lincolnshire), he saw a 

 wild duck fly out of a large ash tree overgrown with ivy : being surprised at seeing a 

 bird of that species in so singular a situation, he climbed the tree, at the top of which 

 he found a duck's nest full of eggs. — Edward Peacock, Jun. ; Messingham, Kirton 

 Lindsay, March, 1850. 



[Many instances of this habit have come to my knowledge. — E. N."] 



Occurrence of the Goosander (Mergus Merganser), Red-breasted Merganser (M. 



Serrator), and Smew (M. albellus). — On the 7th of December last a fine adult female 



of the goosander was shot on Guyhirn Wash ; on the 9th, three old specimens of the 



merganser (a male and two females) were shot on Terrington Marsh ; and ori the 



