BIRDS 131. Teal. Nettion crecca (Linn.). An autumnal and winter visitor to our streams, sometimes coming in considerable flights ; but it does not generally remain long in one place, and is now unknown in sum- mer, although it is probable that formerly it bred in the county. 132. Garganey. Querquedula circia (Linn.). A rare spring visitor to the Severn, Avon and Teme. Seen only in passage. 133. Wigeon. Mareca penelope {L n.). A winter visitor which is found in most of our streams, and appearing either singly or in small companies. 134. Pochard. FuUgula ferlna (Linn.). This also is a winter visitor, but some- times common. There is no record of its ever having been seen except in winter. 135. Tufted Duck. Fuligula cristata (Leach). Occurs not unfrequently in the winter- Most of those I have had the opportunity of examining have been immature examples. 136. Scaup-Duck. Fuligula mania (Linn.). The present species appears inland much less frequently than the tufted duck, and in- deed is very rarely seen in the rivers of the county except in very severe weather, and even then it is only a straggler. Immature birds are, however, more frequently seen than adults of either sex. 137. Goldeneye. Clangula glaucion (Linn.). The goldeneye is not rare in our rivers and ponds in the winter, but nearly all the speci- mens met with are immature. Occasionally, but very occasionally, an adult bird occurs in the spring, apparently a passage bird. 138. Long-tailed Duck. Harelda glacialis (Linn.). According to Hastings it has appeared in Worcestershire as a straggler. 139. Common Eider Duck. Somateria moll- Issima (Linn.). On the authority of Mrs. Perrott, quoted by Hastings (p. 70), an eider duck is supposed to have been killed near Evesham. 140. Common Scoter. CEdemia nigra (Linn.). A coast bird, which but rarely appears on our inland waters, and then only as a straggler. 141. Velvet-Scoter. CEdemia fusca (Linn.). Admitted into the lists of the Worcester- shire birds solely on the authority of Sir Charles Hastings who, however, does not give either time or place of its occurrence. [Surf-Scoter. CEdemia perspicillata (Linn.). Although I cannot strictly include the rare surf-scoter in the list of Worcestershire birds, I can record the occurrence of one on the Avon, only a little way from the boundary of our county, which I saw and examined in Stratford, where it was brought for preserva- tion.] 142. Goosander. Mergus merganser, Linn. The present bird is recorded by Hastings as of ' frequent occurrence ' in Worcestershire, but no locality is mentioned, and although it cannot now be said to be frequent, it is not very rare in the winter on the principal rivers. 143. Red-breasted Merganser. Mergus serra- tor, Linn. This is another species which is given by Hastings as frequent, but which is certainly rare in Worcestershire, if indeed there is any record of its occurrence. Mr. Willis Bund does not include it, though Lees speaks of it as making an occasional visit to the county. The writer has not met with a Worcestershire specimen, though he has one shot on the Avon a few miles from the boundary. 144. Smew. Mergus albellus, Linn. Two instances only of the appearance of the smew in Worcestershire have come to the knowledge of the writer. Lees mentions one which was killed in the Severn above Wor- cester in the spring of 1855 ; and another which was shot at Ombersley in January, 1 89 1, was brought by Mrs. Croft of that place to Mr. Jones, of Worcester, for preser- vation. 145. Ring-Dove or Wood-Pigeon. Columba palumbuSy Linn. Locally, Quice. A common resident and yearly increasing in numbers. Towards the spring, when the usual food of the quice has become scarce, the osier beds of the Avon are frequented by it for the sake of the bulbous roots of the pilewort {ranunculus), which have been laid bare by the winter floods, and on which it feeds. So long however as the more ordin- ary food can be found the quice will not be seen amongst the osiers, nor indeed on the river bank. 146. Stock-Dove. Columba aenas, Linn. Though a common bird the stock-dove is by no means so abundant as the ring-dove. Besides the holes of trees, the head of a pollard ash or withy is sometimes chosen as a nesting- place, and on the Cotteswold range the face of an abandoned quarry affords suitable accom- modation for the nests. 163
