872 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



2nd. — Seebohm and myself made careful examinations and 

 comparisons of ten species of Ducks' downs, collected by our- 

 selves in Eussia ; but we described ours from the down in bulk. 

 These ten species are here given in the second column, and we 

 endeavoured to classify these ten downs in our paper in the 

 ' Ibis ' for 1876, p. 62— classed A. B.C. D.—i. e. :— 



A. White downs. B. White-tipped downs. C. Large dark 

 downs, without white tips. D. Small dark downs, without white 

 tips. 



Besides the above ten species, I have also taken (collected 

 myself) eggs and downs of the following species : — Eed-breasted 

 Merganser and Goosander, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck. 



And of the ten species we obtained in Eussia, I have also 

 collected eggs and down of Wigeon, Scoter, Teal, and Shoveler 

 elsewhere. 



Of other Ducks, I possessed eggs and downs of several other 

 European species, including Marbled Duck, Iceland Golden-eye ; 

 and down of Greylag- and Bean-Geese (the latter taken in Eussia, 

 the Greylags taken in Britain by myself). 



But all the above were lost by fire in 1897. 



Since then I have formed another series, numbering some 

 fifteen species, including species taken by, or collected by, 

 the late John Young, who left me his collection, and others 

 obtained through Mr. Marsden, of Bristol, by purchase ; but I 

 do not use these latter at all in the table above given, as this 

 latter series may be correctly identified and authenticated, or 

 may not ; and I have no means available for getting to bed-rock 

 truth about them, though I must say I believe them to be correct 

 — though without possessing the absolute proof which appears 

 still to be necessary to have Ducks' nests identified to the com- 

 plete satisfaction of naturalists generally, viz. shooting the birds 

 off the nests, or photographing them on the nests, or watching them 

 go off or on to the nests, by experienced ornithologists and able 

 collectors {?). But it does seem to me that something more 

 might be done than has yet been done, on these now somewhat 

 old-fashioned lines, by young ornithologists who have good 

 opportunities and sufficient patience and sound judgment of 

 circumstances — scientific practice or scientific logical training, 

 in fact. 



