358 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



twelve eggs, all of which hatched, and I still see the old duck about 

 continually with her brood, which consists of nine. The second nest I was 

 never able to find, but I see the old bird about with her brood of four. — 

 Alex. H. Baring (The Grange, Alresford, Hants). 



Teal breeding in Bedfordshire. — On August 4th, while staying at 

 Stagsden, near Bedford, a young Teal (Querquedula crecca) was shot on a 

 small pond close by. This being only the second occurrence of the kind I 

 have heard of in that neighbourhood, I thought the fact might be worth 

 recording. — D. H. Stuart Stewart (Royal College of Science, South 

 Kensington). 



The Colour of the Iris in Albino Birds. — In the August number of 

 1 The Zoologist ' (p. 817), there is a note by Mr. Edgar R. Waite on albino 

 Twites, in which it is stated that " in the living bird the eyes were pink, as 

 in all albinos " (the italics are mine). It does not appear that the writer had 

 himself seen the birds alive; the statement is therefore probably an 

 assumption. There are few persons who have had greater opportunities of 

 seeing living albino birds than myself during the nearly a quarter of a 

 century that I have acted as judge at the cage-bird shows at the Crystal 

 Palace, and I have never seen a single instance of an albino bird having 

 pink eyes. I have conferred to-day (August 3rd) with one of the largest 

 dealers in birds, and he also has never seen such a specimen. I do not 

 recollect to have ever seen an albino Twite, but I have seen several albinos 

 of its close ally the Linnet ; these latter certainly had black eyes ; white 

 Jackdaws and Jays have very blue eyes ; white Blackbirds and Thrushes, 

 of which I have seen many, have not pink eyes ; white Pheasants and 

 Peacocks have not pink eyes ; and I could easily make out a long list of 

 albino birds which I have seen that have not pink eyes. It is scarcely 

 necessary to go beyond the poultry-yard in proof of what I state ; white 

 fowls, guinea fowls, turkeys, ducks, geese, and pigeons never have pink 

 eyes. I admit it is very common to see white stuffed birds furnished with 

 pink eyes by the taxidermist, and quite recently a white Curlew was so 

 decorated, but in life this was not so. — J. Jenner Weir (Chirbury, 

 Beckenham, Kent). 



[Our experience does not coincide with that of Mr. Weir. We have 

 seen many white birds with pink irides, e.g., Starling, Sparrow, Robin, 

 Swallow, Jay, Lark, and others that we do not now remember. In the late 

 Mr. Bond's collection were numerous albino birds which he had procured 

 in the flesh, and to which, when preserved, he gave pink eyes, a course 

 which, we feel sure, he would not have adopted if he had not been quite 

 certain that they were pink in life. We do not regard the white fowls, 

 ducks, and pigeons referred to by Mr. Weir as albinos, but as permanent 

 white varieties — a very different thing. — Ed.] 



