236 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Wild Swans in Norfolk. — The statement that the year 1905 passed 

 without a single Wild Swan being seen in Norfolk [ante, p. 138) is in- 

 correct, for Mr. Pashley tells me that three Bewick's Swans (Cygnus 

 bewicki) were seen on the coast on Oct. 18th, and that two of them were 

 shot — adults with very frayed plumage. A supposed Wild Swan, how- 

 ever, shot on Barton Broad, proved to be a Mute Swan, and was 

 omitted intentionally. — J. H. Gurney (Keswick, Norfolk). 



Colour of Pochard's Eyes. — Regarding Mr. C. B. Corbin's note 

 (ante, p. 194) on the colour of birds' eyes, he says he has never seen 

 old or young of Fuligula nyroca in the flesh. The following, therefore, 

 may prove of interest to him. I have been more fortunate than 

 Mr. Corbin, and scores of living and dead F. nyroca have passed 

 through my hands, for this was one of the commonest of migratory 

 Duck in a certain part of Bengal where I resided for some years. It 

 was only the fully adult males that exhibited the white iris, those of 

 the immature birds and females being brown. In a paper I contributed 

 to ' The Zoologist ' for 1902 (p. 452) on Indian birds, I touched briefly 

 on the phenomenon of Pochards' eyes changing colour. This occurred 

 in one (a male) I shot, which was only slightly wounded, and whilst 

 giving it the coup-de-grace I distinctly saw the blood-red iris change to 

 pale yellow. I thought this very remarkable at the time, but believe 

 the occurrence is not uncommon. — Gordon Dalgliesh (Brook, Witley, 

 Surrey). 



Ornithological Notes from Plymouth. — I think that a few of the 

 rare birds I have seen around this neighbourhood are worth recording. 

 In some marshy ground less than a mile from this town an Egyptian 

 Goose has been staying for the last nine months. I have seen it on 

 many occasions, and when approached it takes wing at a little more 

 than gunshot range, always flying into the River Plym. As Egyptian 

 Geese are kept in Bicton Park, and also near Crediton, this may be an 

 escape, and has failed to find its way back again. The bird has failed 

 to find a mate all this time. In September, 1903, I saw a pair of 

 Glossy Ibises (Piegadis falcinellus) in Chelson Meadow (Plymouth race- 

 course), aflat swampy piece of ground. I could observe them well at 

 about a distance of one hundred yards. They had disappeared the 

 next day. Last year a pair of Hawfinches successfully reared a brood 

 in a garden at Mannamead. But the most interesting of all was a 

 Marsh-Harrier {Circus aruginosus), which I saw on Caters Beam — a 

 boggy part of the southern half of Dartmoor. This bird was put up 

 by the Dartmoor foxhounds in November, 1905. The bird flew low 



