5792 Birds. 



male in perfect summer plumage ; the other is a female in winter dress, with a few 

 feathers on the back excepted. These are the first I have heard of being shot in 

 Orkney. An immature specimen of the glossy ibis (Ibis falcinellus) was shot on the 

 4th inst. : this is the first specimen I am aware of being shot in Orkney. This sea- 

 son the sedge warbler (Sylvia Phragmitis), reed warbler (Sylvia arundinacea) , chaf- 

 finch (Fringilla ccelebs), and yellow bunting (Emberiza citrinella), have been found 

 breeding here, which they have not done before to my knowledge. Perhaps this is 

 owing to the very fine summer we have had. — R. Dunn; Stromness, Orkney, Septem- 

 ber 14, 1857. 



Breeding of Teal in Dorset. — Em pool, near Niton, Dorchester, is a favourite resort 

 of the teal in the summer time. There is no river of any size there, but a number of 

 rivulets wind in and out among large sedge-beds. A year seldom passes without one 

 or more nests being discovered. This summer six young teal have been seen flying 

 about with their parents. Teal are always very poor and unhealthy-looking when met 

 with in the summer. — R. B. Smith ; Marlboro? College, Wilts. 



Wild Duck. — The wild duck is one of the earliest and also one of the latest 

 breeders. Its eggs are frequently met with in March ; and on the 18th of August I 

 met with five or six young ducks, unable to flap, much less fly. Can any of your 

 readers inform me whether two wild ducks are ever known to lay their eggs in the 

 same nest ; or, if not, what is the greatest number they ever lay ? I met with a nest 

 on the 23rd of April, 1855, containing nineteen eggs, all of which had been equally 

 sat upon. When I first found it two ducks flew off, which, however, appeared to me 

 to be the male and female, not two females; the second time only one drake flew off; 

 so it would seem that one bird only had laid the prodigious number of nineteen eggs, j 

 — Id. 



Notes and Remarks on afeiv of the Birds of Southern India. 

 By Captain Henry W. Hadfield. 



(Concluded from p. 5750). 



Having already stated that my remarks were to be confined to a 

 " few of the birds of Southern India," I need only add that the ex- 

 pression must be taken in its most literal sense, the present paper 

 containing all I have to offer on the subject, not liking to trust too 

 much to memory in these matters, but, unless I had recourse to it, my 

 observations would probably soon dwindle into a mere enumeration of 

 species, and a very imperfect one too. 



Indian Falcon. Although I never observed this hawk in a wild 

 state I saw several in captivity, during my stay at Combaconune ; they 

 were powerful and voracious birds : their plumage is much darker than 

 that of the European falcons. I was once present at a great display 

 of falconry, given by a Rajah of the neighbourhood, and, not having 





