NOTES AND QUERIES. 



157 



"petred," the latter having a sun-washed appearance. It would be 

 interesting to know what the natural enemies of H. pomatia are in 

 the countries of the Continent ; the absence of any natural foes which 

 feed upon this mollusc would seem to support the theory that it is not 

 indigenous in England. — John R. B. Masefield (Rosehill, Cheadle, 

 Staffordshire). 



Notes from South-western Hants. — Taken as a whole, in the valley 

 of the Avon, the past autumn and winter have not been productive of 

 matter for record, as the weather was so very uncertain and change- 

 able from day to day. In the game-rearing disiricts I heard of a fair 

 amount of sport with the hand-bred birds, Pheasants and Partridges 

 — in fact, the season was more satisfactory than had been anticipated 

 — and on one or two occasions a considerable number of Snipe and 

 comparatively few Woodcock were killed, but the wildfowl shooting 

 on some parts of the river at least was below the average, a lack of 

 Teal being very noticeable, and Wigeon were not so abundant as they 

 are some winters ; this, however, may have arisen from the continued 

 lowness of the water, as it is well known the active and handsome 

 little Teal likes a flooded meadow and its production. Possibly, too, 

 the "guns" were a trifle to blame for the apparent paucity, as on one 

 part of the stream from which I obtained statistics respectable bags 

 were made, considering the general scarcity. True, I did not hear of 

 any Pintail or Gadwall, and only one Goldeneye, in anything like 

 adult plumage ; the Shoveler, too, was in much fewer numbers than 

 for the last three or four years, but I was more than gratified to know 

 that at least one full-plumaged male Goosander and two or more 

 Smews, more or less adult, were seen in the old locality (after an 

 absence of the former species for seven or eight years), and possibly 

 there were others of the same species in less adult plumage which 

 were not detected amongst their older relatives. Pochards were not 

 scarce, and a few Tufted Duck, which latter possibly might have 

 nested near, were seen or shot ; two small flocks of Wild Geese 

 frequented the neighbourhood for several weeks, but I heard of only 

 one being killed at quite the end of the shooting season, and that was 

 the white-fronted species. On one stretch of water in four or five 

 " shoots," averaging five guns, the following bags were made, viz. 

 Wild Duck 402, Wigeon 120, Teal 83, Pochard 9, Tufted Duck 3, 

 Smew 2, Goosander 1, Goose 1, Snipe 28, Coot 240, Moorhen, 165. 



Soon after the shooting commenced in early August an immature 

 male Garganey was shot near here, and is only the third occurrence 



