248 INDIAN DUCKS. 



said, as a strafrgler, and a very rare one too ; all the notes as to its 

 occurrence in ' Game-Birds ' are that Sir A. Barnes got it on the Indus in 

 Sind nearly sixty years ago, and that Dr. Bonavia obtained a fine male 

 aVjout 1870, which was captured by fowlers near Lucknow. 



After ' Grame-Birds ' was written, Hume evidently got other specimens, 

 for in the British Museum are two specimens got liv ]{. N. Stoker, which 

 were presented by Hume with the rest of his collection. These two birds 

 were obtained, one at Hassanpur, and one at Ghazi, both in the month of 

 December. There is so little on record about this duck in India, and 

 ' Stray Feathers ' is now so hard to get, that I reproduce the greater part 

 of Stoker's notes on his specimen. 



" I hare now to record shootino- near Ghazi. on the Indus, a ff-male 

 Golden-eye [Clangula glaucion). I saw one drake and four ducks, but, 

 unfortunately only succeeded in getting one of the latter. 



'^This measured : length 15'75 inches, ex]>anse 2G*5, tail 3"<jtl, Ijill f roni 

 gape 1*G6. Weight 1 lb. 5 ozs. 



" The irides were a bright pale yellow ; the feet bright yellowish 

 orange, with dark blackish webs ; bill black at base and tip, with a medial 

 yellow band about 0'25 mm. in width.'' 



In the same letter, in a P.S., he continues : — '' Since this was written 

 I have shot another Golden-eye, a bird of the year. ... A third bird, 

 precisely like this second, was shot by an officer here, but hitherto the 

 drake has resisted all our attempts to assassinate him. 



" I showed the first bird to a very intelligent native at Ghazi, and he 

 assured me that they appeared there every year regularly, and that three 

 years ago he shot one. I am certain that I shot a duck of this species 

 some three years ago. It puzzled me at the time, but now I have no 

 doubt what it was." 



Then, in a second letter, Mr. Stoker again writes : — '• Since I last 

 wrote, I have succeeded in obtaining a fine drake Golden-eye, which I am 

 sending you. 



" There were four of them together in a little stream opposite a village 

 of Hassanpur. 



"" The natives called them ' Burgee,' the ' bur ' pronounced as in burrow. 

 Burgee, I believe, only means patches of black and white. 



" Mr. Barlow informs me that these ducks come to Ghazi every 

 winter. 



" This drake measures : wing 9*0 inches. . . . 



" We all said what a heavy bird, but it only weighed 1 lb. 10 ozs.. 



