lows: iris, white with a faint greyish tinge; feet, pale bluish grey; joints and webs, blackish; bill, bluish grey, lightest near base and before tip; ' nail ' on bill almost black. Width (expanded wings), 75½ cm.; wing in flesh, 22 cm. This specimen is the only one known to have been obtained in Europe. It was in good condition and certainly a genuine wild bird. Careful inquiries made by Mr. N. C. Rothschild have shown that no unpinioned bird of this species was kept in England and that none had escaped (cf. Bulletin Brit. Orn. Club, Nov. 1901.xii. 25).
136. Tufted Duck. Fuligula cristata (Leach).
Not infrequent as a winter visitor to all larger pieces of water, especially the reservoirs, and breeding in some numbers on the Weston Turville (Halton) and Tring reservoirs.
137. Scaup-Duck. Fuligula marila (Linn.).
An occasional but irregular winter visitor to the larger pieces of water, such as the Tring reservoirs, the river Chess, and probably the Thames. We have one shot on the Tring reservoir on December 2, 1892, and have seen it at least twice since then, once in large flocks.
138. Goldeneye. Clangula glaucion (Linn.).
An irregular winter visitor, often appearing in great numbers on the Tring reservoirs in very cold weather. We have seen many adult males among them, but they are very wild and difficult to approach. Specimens have been shot in various places in Buckinghamshire.
139. Common Scoter. Œdemia nigra (Linn.).
A rare winter visitor, but sometimes more numerous than usual. In 1892 (October and December) there were quite a number of females on the Tring reservoirs, and four females of those dates are now in the Tring Museum. On March 22, 1879, an adult male was shot on the Thames near Windsor (Curtis, Field, 1879, p. 369). Joe Cox, jun., shot a young male at Deadmere, Great Marlow, on December 18, 1893 (A. H. Cocks, in litt.).
140. Goosander. Mergus merganser, Linn.
The goosander, ' saw-billed duck,' or ' dun diver ' is a rare winter visitor. A female (called Mergus serrator, but from the figure a goosander) was shot at Dinton Hall on November 26, 1774. Almost every winter specimens are observed or obtained on the Thames, where it separates Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. In the winter, generally in cold weather, single specimens and small parties have from time to time been observed on the Tring reservoirs. Two females were shot on November 8 and 29, 1901. Mr. Alfred Heneage Cocks informs us that one was shot near Great Marlow on January 27, 1881.
141. Red-breasted Merganser. Mergus serrator, Linn.
A much rarer visitor. Mr. Kennedy says only vaguely that individuals are occasionally shot on the Thames. We have not ourselves been able to verify its occurrence on the reservoirs until 1901, when three young males and females were shot on the Marsworth reservoirs, on the Buckinghamshire borders, by Mr. N. C. Rothschild and the keeper. (A year or two before 1883, which was the first year I shot on the reservoirs, the Rev. A. Birch shot a female on Little Tring reservoir, which he had stuffed. W. R.)
142. Smew. Mergus albellus, Linn.
As long ago as 1774 this bird was noticed in Buckinghamshire. In that year a female, called Mergus minutus, red-headed smew, was shot on November 23 at Dinton Hall. On January 12, 1891, a young female was shot in the Brewery sewage works below Great Marlow. The only other instance of its occurrence actually in the county is an adult male shot in January 1876, opposite Stonehouse on the Thames (A. H. Cocks, Zoologist, 1891, p. 153).
143. Ring-Dove or Wood-Pigeon. Columba palumbus, Linn.
Very common, breeding everywhere. In certain years, apparently only when there is plenty of food in the form of beech-mast, it appears in enormous numbers, as for example in the winter of 1894-5.
144. Stock-Dove. Columba ænas, Linn.
This species nests throughout the county where old trees afford nesting-holes. It is however a migrant, leaving us in winter. Kennedy (Birds of Berks and Bucks, p. 55) has apparently confounded the ring-dove and stock-dove, and it is the former (Columba palumbus) which feeds in winter in large flocks on the beech-mast, not the stock-dove, as reported by the Rev. H. Harpur Crewe.
145. Rock-Dove. Columba livia, Gmelin.
' A wild, white-rumped pigeon, slightly smaller than the wood-pigeon, and equally distinct from the stock - dove, is, or was, plentiful at one particular spot in Buckinghamshire, viz. a high chalk cliff, facing the Thames near the lower end of the Danesfield estate, near where Harleyford estate
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