70 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
by Mr. Knight, of Downton Castle, near Ludlow, 
A straggler of the great bustard, Otis tarda, was 
killed near Worcester a few years ago. The cormo- 
rant, Phalacrocorax carbo, in time of floods often 
visits the interior of the country, and the following 
species have been met with at similar times during 
the winter season, wandering from their usual 
haunts : — ^the gannet, Sula bassena,^ the velvet scoter, 
Oidemia fusca, the black scoter, O. nigra, the eider 
duck, Somateria mollissima,'^ the golden-eye, Clan- 
gula vulgaris, the long-tailed duck, C. glacialis, the 
pochard, Nyroca ferina, the scaup duck, N. marina, ' 
the tufted duck, N, fuligula, and the sheldrake, 7a- 
dorna vulpanser. The common wild duck Anas 
boschas, breeds in our retired pools and marshes, and 
the following species are of frequent occurrence in 
the winter season on our various rivers and pools, 
some of them most abundantly : — ^the pintail duck, 
A. acuta, the wigeon, A. penelope, the garganey duck, 
A. querquedula, the teal, A. crecca, the wild swan, 
Cygnus ferus^ the grey goose, Anser palustris, the 
* This singular straggler was met with flying over an arable field at Alfrick, in 
this county, in the winter of 1833, and is now in our Museum. 
3 Killed at Evesham, according to Mrs. Perrot. 
^ The wild whistling swan, Cygnus fcrus, appears upon the Severn and Teme in 
severe winters, or when the flat meadows are overflown. A flock of them was 
noticed at Powick wier, on the Teme, in February, 1830 ; and on the 3d of Febru- 
ary, in the same year, the Rev. Henry C. Philpott, of Severn Stoke, shot a beautiful 
specimen, while on the wing with six others, crossing the meadows between Severn 
Stoke church and the Rhydd. It measured 7 feet 9^ inches from wing to wing, and 
weighed 21 pounds. This specimen is now in the Philosophical Institution at 
Bristol. Another was shot on the 11th of February, on the flood, below Diglis, by 
Mr. Lane, junior, of Friar Street, Worcester, by whom it was stulFed. The domes- 
