diff --git a/pcap-int.h b/pcap-int.h
index b127a00..e46a988 100644
--- a/pcap-int.h
+++ b/pcap-int.h
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ struct pcap_md {
 	u_int	tp_version;	/* version of tpacket_hdr for mmaped ring */
 	u_int	tp_hdrlen;	/* hdrlen of tpacket_hdr for mmaped ring */
 	u_char	*oneshot_buffer; /* buffer for copy of packet */
+	long	proc_dropped; /* packets reported dropped by /proc/net/dev */
 #endif /* linux */
 
 #ifdef HAVE_DAG_API
diff --git a/pcap-linux.c b/pcap-linux.c
index eebc3e0..d2f7c51 100644
--- a/pcap-linux.c
+++ b/pcap-linux.c
@@ -890,6 +890,60 @@ pcap_can_set_rfmon_linux(pcap_t *handle)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+/* grabs the number of dropped packets by the interface from /proc/net/dev */
+static long int
+linux_if_drops(const char * if_name)
+{
+	char buffer[512];
+	char * bufptr;
+	FILE * file;
+	int field_to_convert = 3, if_name_sz = strlen(if_name);
+	long int dropped_pkts = 0;
+	
+	file = fopen("/proc/net/dev", "r");
+	if (!file)
+		return 0;
+
+	while (!dropped_pkts && fgets( buffer, sizeof(buffer), file ))
+	{
+		/* 	search for 'bytes' -- if its in there, then
+			that means we need to grab the fourth field. otherwise
+			grab the third field. */
+		if (field_to_convert != 4 && strstr(buffer, "bytes"))
+		{
+			field_to_convert = 4;
+			continue;
+		}
+	
+		/* find iface and make sure it actually matches -- space before the name and : after it */
+		if ((bufptr = strstr(buffer, if_name)) &&
+			(bufptr == buffer || *(bufptr-1) == ' ') &&
+			*(bufptr + if_name_sz) == ':')
+		{
+			bufptr = bufptr + if_name_sz + 1;
+
+			/* grab the nth field from it */
+			while( --field_to_convert && *bufptr != '\0')
+			{
+				while (*bufptr != '\0' && *(bufptr++) == ' ');
+				while (*bufptr != '\0' && *(bufptr++) != ' ');
+			}
+			
+			/* get rid of any final spaces */
+			while (*bufptr != '\0' && *bufptr == ' ') bufptr++;
+			
+			if (*bufptr != '\0')
+				dropped_pkts = strtol(bufptr, NULL, 10);
+
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	
+	fclose(file);
+	return dropped_pkts;
+} 
+
+
 /*
  * With older kernels promiscuous mode is kind of interesting because we
  * have to reset the interface before exiting. The problem can't really
@@ -1065,6 +1119,14 @@ pcap_activate_linux(pcap_t *handle)
 			 pcap_strerror(errno) );
 		return PCAP_ERROR;
 	}
+	
+	/*
+	 * If we're in promiscuous mode, then we probably want 
+	 * to see when the interface drops packets too, so get an
+	 * initial count from /proc/net/dev
+	 */
+	if (handle->opt.promisc)
+		handle->md.proc_dropped = linux_if_drops(handle->md.device);
 
 	/*
 	 * Current Linux kernels use the protocol family PF_PACKET to
@@ -1563,6 +1625,18 @@ pcap_stats_linux(pcap_t *handle, struct pcap_stat *stats)
 	socklen_t len = sizeof (struct tpacket_stats);
 #endif
 
+	long if_dropped = 0;
+	
+	/* 
+	 *	To fill in ps_ifdrop, we parse /proc/net/dev for the number
+	 */
+	if (handle->opt.promisc)
+	{
+		if_dropped = handle->md.proc_dropped;
+		handle->md.proc_dropped = linux_if_drops(handle->md.device);
+		handle->md.stat.ps_ifdrop += (handle->md.proc_dropped - if_dropped);
+	}
+
 #ifdef HAVE_TPACKET_STATS
 	/*
 	 * Try to get the packet counts from the kernel.
@@ -1583,6 +1657,8 @@ pcap_stats_linux(pcap_t *handle, struct pcap_stat *stats)
 		 *	dropped by the interface driver.  It counts only
 		 *	packets that passed the filter.
 		 *
+		 *	See above for ps_ifdrop. 
+		 *
 		 *	Both statistics include packets not yet read from
 		 *	the kernel by libpcap, and thus not yet seen by
 		 *	the application.
@@ -1646,16 +1722,22 @@ pcap_stats_linux(pcap_t *handle, struct pcap_stat *stats)
 	 *
 	 *	"ps_drop" is not supported.
 	 *
+	 *	"ps_ifdrop" is supported. It will return the number
+	 *	of drops the interface reports in /proc/net/dev
+	 *
 	 *	"ps_recv" doesn't include packets not yet read from
 	 *	the kernel by libpcap.
 	 *
 	 * We maintain the count of packets processed by libpcap in
 	 * "md.packets_read", for reasons described in the comment
 	 * at the end of pcap_read_packet().  We have no idea how many
-	 * packets were dropped.
+	 * packets were dropped by the kernel buffers -- but we know 
+	 * how many the interface dropped, so we can return that.
 	 */
+	 
 	stats->ps_recv = handle->md.packets_read;
 	stats->ps_drop = 0;
+	stats->ps_ifdrop = handle->md.stat.ps_drop;
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/pcap/pcap.h b/pcap/pcap.h
index 29d5a4e..f2451ad 100644
--- a/pcap/pcap.h
+++ b/pcap/pcap.h
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ struct pcap_pkthdr {
 struct pcap_stat {
 	u_int ps_recv;		/* number of packets received */
 	u_int ps_drop;		/* number of packets dropped */
-	u_int ps_ifdrop;	/* drops by interface XXX not yet supported */
+	u_int ps_ifdrop;	/* drops by interface -- only supported on some platforms */
 #ifdef WIN32
 	u_int bs_capt;		/* number of packets that reach the application */
 #endif /* WIN32 */
diff --git a/pcap_stats.3pcap b/pcap_stats.3pcap
index abc56f8..a953e21 100644
--- a/pcap_stats.3pcap
+++ b/pcap_stats.3pcap
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 .\" WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
 .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
 .\"
-.TH PCAP_SNAPSHOT 3PCAP "5 April 2008"
+.TH PCAP_STATS 3PCAP "7 September 2009"
 .SH NAME
 pcap_stats \- get capture statistics
 .SH SYNOPSIS
@@ -35,17 +35,57 @@ int pcap_stats(pcap_t *p, struct pcap_stat *ps);
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .B pcap_stats()
 fills in the
-.I pcap_stat
-structure pointed to by its second argument.  The values represent
+.B struct pcap_stat
+pointed to by its second argument.  The values represent
 packet statistics from the start of the run to the time of the call.
 .PP
 .B pcap_stats()
 is supported only on live captures, not on ``savefiles''; no statistics
 are stored in ``savefiles'', so no statistics are available when reading
 from a ``savefile''.
+.PP
+A
+.B struct pcap_stat
+has the following members:
+.RS
+.TP
+.B ps_recv
+number of packets received;
+.TP
+.B ps_drop
+number of packets dropped because there was no room in the operating
+system's buffer when they arrived, because packets weren't being read
+fast enough;
+.TP
+.B ps_ifdrop
+number of packets dropped by the network interface or its driver.
+.RE
+.PP
+The statistics do not behave the same way on all platforms.
+.B ps_recv
+might count packets whether they passed any filter set with
+.BR pcap_setfilter (3PCAP)
+or not, or it might count only packets that pass the filter.
+It also might, or might not, count packets dropped because there was no
+room in the operating system's buffer when they arrived.
+.B ps_drop
+is not available on all platforms; it is zero on platforms where it's
+not available.  If packet filtering is done in libpcap, rather than in
+the operating system, it would count packets that don't pass the filter.
+Both
+.B ps_recv
+and
+.B ps_drop
+might, or might not, count packets not yet read from the operating
+system and thus not yet seen by the application.
+.B ps_ifdrop
+might, or might not, be implemented; if it's zero, that might mean that
+no packets were dropped by the interface, or it might mean that the
+statistic is unavailable, so it should not be treated as an indication
+that the interface did not drop any packets.
 .SH RETURN VALUE
 .B pcap_stats()
-returns 0 on success and returns \-1 if there is an error or the
+returns 0 on success and returns \-1 if there is an error or if
 .I p
 doesn't support packet statistics.
 If \-1 is returned,