NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. 45 



Mr. Elwin, of Somerset, writes me word that on the 18th 

 of last month he shot at " a pair of birds "— about the size 

 of young pigeons — " they were striped about the head, 

 with one broad ring, and one smaller round the neck 

 — very light under plumage, the wings and back some- 

 thing of a slate colour. Tails long and pointed." He 

 says: " In my anxiety to get them both, supposing them to 

 be male and female, I took neither, and have seen nothing 

 of them since." 



I think it may be safely concluded these were the 

 Carolina Long-tailed Doves {Ectopistes carolinensis). Mr. 

 Elwin also mentions killing three "big Yellow-legged 

 Tattlers " at a shot, weighing eight ounces each. Those I 

 have seen were exceedingly fat, and measured about 

 thirteen and a half inches in length, from the tip of the 

 bill to the tail. 



Mr. Wedderburn brought in a Pigeon Hawk (Falco 

 columbarius) shot this day at Harris' Pond. 



November 4th, 1847. — Examined a Duck killed by Mr. 

 Wedderburn, 42nd Highlanders, in the Governor's Marsh 

 this morning. It measured twenty-one and three-quarter 

 inches in length, and thirty-four and a half from tip to 

 tip of the wings, and proved to be a young male bird 

 which had partially assumed, though in a small degree, 

 the plumage of the adult. The throat was spotted with 

 dark chestnut, and the black and white feathers of the back 

 were sprinkled here and there with the immature plumage 

 of the first year. The long feathers of the tail were 

 wanting. On comparing this specimen with the skin of a 

 male Pintail Duck (A. acuta), recently imported from New 

 York, the character of the bird was so distinctly marked, 



