144 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



awash, and repeatedly dived in a clean Grebe-like fashion. Its asso- 

 ciation with the Tufted Ducks and Pochards was merely fortuitous, 

 and presently it left them and swam, diving as it went, towards two 

 Golden-eyes — an old drake and a brown-headed bird — that were feeding 

 in another part of the mere. Some Mallards standing on the bank 

 rose at our approach, and alarmed the other fowl, which all got on the 

 wing. The Tufted Ducks and Pochards soon settled again on the 

 water, but the Golden-eyes, always wilder and more wary than other 

 Diving Ducks, after flying up and down the mere once or twice with 

 the Smew in their company, made off in the direction of another sheet 

 of water a mile away. When we reached this place the Golden-eyes 

 were not to be seen, but the Smew had joined a covert of Coots. It 

 moved about the pool, fishing intermittently, and we were able to watch 

 it for some time at close quarters before it arose in alarm and returned 

 to the mere. It was an immature grey- backed bird, with reddish 

 brown head and hind neck and white cheeks ; from its small size when 

 contrasted with the Tufted Ducks on the wing, we concluded it was a 

 female. In flight the broad lozenge-shaped white wing-spot was very 

 conspicuous. The bird flew very rapidly, and more than once made 

 an oblique downward plunge similar to the aerial dive of a Teal. Mr. 

 H. E. Forrest tells me that a Smew, shot on Marbury Mere, near 

 Whitchurch, on Jan. 27th of this year, was sent into Shrewsbury for 

 preservation. It is a male in immature dress, probably a bird in its 

 second winter, as it shows a good deal of white in its plumage. This 

 species is rare inland in Cheshire, and I only know of one occurrence 

 previous to this year. An immature example preserved in a local 

 collection is labelled " Tatton; shot with another in hard frost, January, 

 1867." — Chakles Oldham (Knutsford). 



Varieties of Moorhen and Blackbird. — At the end of December 

 last the anomaly of a white Blackbird was shot in the neighbourhood 

 of Christchurch. It was a mature male, and its whole plumage was 

 of a spotless white, except the tip of one of its outer tail-feathers, 

 which was dusky. The circles round its eyes and its beak were a bright 

 lemon colour, but its eyes were normal, and its legs very little lighter 

 than in an ordinary dark specimen. On previous occasions I have 

 seen immature specimens of both Blackbird and Thrush wholly white, 

 but they invariably had pink eyes, and their legs were much lighter 

 than usual. About the middle of January a peculiarly dappled Moor- 

 hen was shot near here, and kindly given to me. It was a very large 

 bird ; the head, neck, and breast were of the usual dark colour, but 

 from the shoulders to the tail it had more white than black about it, 



