Vol. xi.] 56 



smaller. As the bird was without a male; no young ones of 

 course were hatched. 



Mr. Digby Pigott, on behalf of the Earl of Dude, called 

 the attention of the Club to the great reduction in the number 

 of Wood-Pigeons noticed last autumn in Gloucestershire, 

 where the birds usually collected in great flocks in autumn to 

 feed in the beech- and oak-woods. The crops of both mast 

 and acorns were abnormally large, but the flocks of Pigeons 

 were barely one-tenth of their usual numbers. 



A falling-off in the numbers of the immigrant flocks of 

 these birds, scarcely less remarkable, was also noticed in parts 

 of Oxfordshire and in St. James's Park. 



Lord Ducie further reported the settlement of a flock of 

 Pochards last winter on the lake at Tortworth, where the 

 birds had seldom been seen before, excepting in occasional 

 solitary pairs. 



A pair arrived in the middle of January. Towards the 

 end of the month the number increased to 9, and gra- 

 dually rose to 14, 19, 20, 24, and finally (on February 20) to 

 27, of which all but 7 were males. 



The birds, not being molested, became very tame, and 

 could be approached within 70 yards, only flying 100 yards 

 or so when disturbed. 



At the end of February the hounds were in the coverts 

 and frightened the birds. The next day 9 only were to 

 be seen. These were still on the lake a few day ago. 



The Hon. Walter Rothschild, Mr. J. G. Millais, 

 Mr. Heatley Noble, and others spoke on the same subject, 

 while Mr. F. E. Blaalw stated that an unusual number of 

 Wood-Pigeons had remained in Holland this winter. It was 

 therefore possible that an equally good crop of beech-mast and 

 acorns on the Continent had prevented the usual immigration 

 to Great Britain. 



Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier exhibited the tracheal rings and a 

 feather of Dinornis, as well as some pebbles from the gizzard, 

 found along with the skeleton in a peat-bog near Otago, 

 jN'ew Zealand. 



