OF IfOETHTJMBEKLAXD A^D DURHAM. 153 



seven eggs at Loch. leaver, near Altnaharrow, Sutheiiandshire, 

 on the 21st of May, 1849, amidst heather on the banks of the 

 loch. I haye another nest taken in May, 1866, by my friend 

 Mr. "W. E. Brooks, near Loch Meadie, Sntherlandshire, to whom 

 I am indebted for the specimen and four of the eight eggs which 

 it contained. 



Hybrids of the Wigeon are not uncommon ; the Bimaculated 

 Duck of Bewick and Yarrell is a hybrid between this species 

 and the Teal. Of this there can be no dotibt, for I have seen 

 the specimen figured by these two authors, and this opinion 

 is now I believe generally admitted. A hybrid between the 

 Wigeon and Pintail is in my collection. This specimen par- 

 takes about equally of the characters of both parents ; it has the 

 markings of the breast and some of the buff colour of the head 

 of the "Wigeon; the chestnut of the head and neck is mingled 

 with the glossy green of those parts of the Pintail, and the back 

 of the neck is very dark as in the Wigeon. The wing coverts 

 are of a soiled white ; the scapulars, tertiaries, and tail-feathers 

 resemble mostly those of the Pintail ; but the two long central 

 caudal feathers are not quite so much produced as in the Pintail. 



In 1860 the late Mr. A. Savage, gamekeeper at Hornby, sent 

 me a pair of hybrids between the male "Wigeon and female wild 

 Duck. They are a little larger than the "Wigeon. The head of 

 the male is brown, the crown glossy green ; the neck is likewise 

 brown, a little darker below, above glossy green, with the sides 

 strongly freckled with dark brown ; the back strongly resembles 

 that of the "Wigeon ; the under parts are similar to those of the 

 Mallard ; the central feathers of the tail are a little elongated, 

 as in the "Wigeon, but, like those of the Mallard, are slightly 

 turned up. I received another pair of hybrids at the same time 

 from Mr. Savage : they were the offspring of a male "Wigeon and 

 the Call Duck. They closely resembled the first -mentioned 

 pair. All the four birds were alive, and I presented them to 

 my friend the late Mr. "William "Wylam, of the JN'orth Leam. 

 One of the females laid eleven eggs, the usual number, and sat 

 upon them a month, but no young were produced. One of the 

 males is still alive. 



