ANATIDAE—DUCKS. 203
p. 109) :—"A friend tells the writer that thirty years ago he and another bagged
seventeen pairs of flappers (young Plovers) in a day on the Tilbury Levels."
" Flappers" are, of course, young Ducks, not Plovers. On the Old Hall Marshes,
Tollesbury, and all the other marshes round our coast, it is common as a breeding-
bird. Round Harwich, " it is common and breeds on the Bentlings, where it
makes a nest without any attempt at concealment, much to the delight of the
Carrion Crows " (Kerry).
In the Collection at Audley End is a black variety (? domestic) killed at that place
(24), and in the winter of 1876-77 I was informed that a white one was seen on the
lake in Navestock Park. A hybrid specimen, the result of a cross between this species
and the Wigeon, was among the birds collected by the late Col. Russell. It was
shot on the Essex coast, but I am unable to say where. It is described as a male
in full plumage, showing the markings of both parents very distinctly, and is con-
jectured to have been bred from a Wigeon which had been wounded, and was un-
able, in consequence, to migrate.
Mr. Hope observes that there are two forms of this bird, a large variety,
which comes first, and a small sharp-winged form, which arrives about Christ-
mas.
Gadwall: Chaulelasmus streperus. Locally " Sand Wigeon."
A decidedly uncommon visitor to our coast from autumn to spring.
Mr. Clarke mentions (24) a male killed at Wenden in Feb., 1837, and there
is at Saffron Walden a mature male shot on the lake at Shortgrove in March, 1862,
by a gamekeeper. King, in 1838, says (20), " I have in my collection a female
Gadwall shot about two years since on the Stour at Cornard." This bird is now
at Birmingham. Lindsey, writing of Harwich in 1851, describes it (27. App. 63) as
" a rare species, occurring sometimes in winter, but more frequently in the spring,
rather than at any other season of the year, and then only in very limited num-
bers." Mr. Hope says it is " often shot near Harwich." Mr. Robert Page has a
pair, taken in his Decoy at Marsh House.
Garganey : Querquedula circia. Locally, " Summer Teal."
An uncommon visitor, chiefly when on migration. I know of
no instance of its breeding in the county, though it has done so in
Suffolk and
Norfolk.
Yarrell says
(14. iii. 166) that
it is rare in Essex
and Kent. Lind-
sey, writing of
Harwich in 1851,
says (27. App.
62) that it
" is rather a
rare species, and
though specimens
have been seen in
October, it more
frequently makes
its appearance in
the spring, and
then only in comparatively small numbers."