Birds— Fishes. 4947 



however, of those found throughout our shooting: season are made up of smaller flights 

 afterwards ; and these again, when our winters are very severe, are driven down from all 

 parts of England to our most southern and western peninsula, as I have often remarked 

 (as last year), in ihe months of January and February.— Id., November 12, 1855. 



Note on the Iceland Gull and the Shore Lark in Norfolk.— During the first week 

 of this month a male specimen of the shore lark (Alauda alpestris), assuming the 

 winter plumage, and a nearly adult female of the Iceland gull (Larus leucoplerus), 

 were shot at Holkham, in this county.—//. Stevenson ; Norwich, December 10, 1855. 



Question respecting the American Scaup said to have been taken at Scarborough. — In 

 indexing the ' Zoologist' for 1855, my attention was attracted by a record forwarded by 

 Mr. Roberts, of Scarborough (Zool. 4631), of the occurrence of the Americau scaup near 

 that town ; but the record is unfortunately unaccompanied by any description or further 

 particulars. The bird to which this name was applied appears to have been considered 

 by the late Mr. Vigors as an American variety of the common scaup (Anas marila of 

 Pennant), and, if proved distinct from that bird, Mr. Vigors proposed to call it Fuligula 

 mariloides. At this point all our knowledge of the bird appears to cease. Mr. Yarrell, 

 however, gives, in his ' History of British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 247, under the same name, 

 Fuligula mariloides or American scaup, the figure and description of a bird, in the 

 possession of Mr. Doubleday, which was purchased in Leadenhall Market. In August, 

 1845, Mr. Fisher, then an active correspondent of the 'Zoologist,' communicated 

 (Zool. 1 137) an account of a duck, in the possession of Mr. Gurney, of Norwich, which 

 had occurred on Rollesby Broad, near Great Yarmouth, and which, not appearing 

 referrible to any described species, he supposed a hybrid between the common and 

 white-eyed pochards : the same acute ornithologist subsequently described the same 

 specimen (Zool. 1379) in his 'Account of the Birds of Norfolk.' In April, 1847, a 

 third bird was purchased by Mr. Bartlett in a London market, and both that gentle- 

 man and Mr. Fisher agreed that it was of the same species as Mr. Gurney's; and the 

 three birds, Mr. Doubleday's, Mr. Gurney's and Mr. Bartlett's, were exhibited by 

 Mr. Bartlett on the 13th of the same month, at an evening meeting of the Zoological 

 Society, as a new species of duck which he proposed to call Fuligula ferinoides; and 

 Mr. Fisher published figures and description in the 'Zoologist' for May following, 

 under the name of Paget's pochard or Fuligula ferinoides (Zool. 1778), a name which 

 all ornithologists have received, and the name of American scaup or Fuligula mari- 

 loides has been removed from the British list. What, then, is the bird thus denomi- 

 nated by Mr. Roberts? Is it Paget's pochard, or a duck heretofore unknown as 

 British? I shall consider it a great favour if Mr. Roberts or some other of my 

 correspondents in the North will favour me with a reply. — Edward Newman. 



Fresh-water Fish in Confinement. — With the remarks of your able correspondent, 

 Mr. Newman, upon fish in confinement, I in the main agree; but on one or two points 

 I beg to differ; first, with regard to the timidity of the loach, though undoubtedly 

 it is a shy fish, but it will, with a little attention, become familiar; I have two 

 exceedingly so; they rise and take food from the hand eagerly, and will even allow 

 me to touch them with my finger. I have also kept them for months in a vessel, the 

 sides being made of zinc — for a fresh-water aquarium I do not think it injurious. 

 Again, with respect to the sluggish habits of that pretty fish, the gudgeon, it is, if so 



