174 NOTICE OF SOME EARE BIRDS SEEN RECENTLY. 



On the next day, September 24tli, two specimens of the Pin- 

 tail Duck {Anas acuta), and a specimen of the Shoveller [Anas 

 clypeata of Linnaeus) were shot by the Eslington keeper at a 

 pond in the same neighbourhood. These were all females, and 

 young birds of the year. They are of rare occurrence in the 

 Northern Counties, though numbers of the Pintail are brought 

 to the London market from the decoys in the Midland and 

 Southern Counties. The Shoveller is nowhere common in 

 Great Britain. The bill of this immature specimen presented 

 a remarkable appearance. Large and flat in its proportions it 

 was extremely thin, almost transparent in its texture, and about 

 as limp as a kid glove. Both the Pintail and the Shoveller 

 are much esteemed for the table. 



On the 1st of October a Gannet was observed by a shooting 

 party from Kavensworth Castle wheeling over Gateshead Low 

 Fell, near the farm of Chowdean. It was not more than sixty 

 or seventy yards above the surface of the earth, and seemed 

 on the look-out for prey, sweeping round with the easy graceful 

 flight peculiar to this fine race of sea birds. This was a bird 

 of the year, probably driven inland by the north-easterly gales 

 then prevalent. 



The fact of so many scarce birds having come under my own 

 observation in one week is worth recording. 



I add a postscript to this ''Chapter of Accidents" to record 

 another singular fact, that on Saturday evening, October 3rd, 

 a magnificent female Sparrow-hawk {Falco nisus) killed herself 

 by dashing against a wire fence, probably in pursuit of her prey. 

 The shock must have been instantaneously fatal, for she lay 

 without a single feather being disturbed, and her plumage is 

 quite beautiful. 



