NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 275 



nest. Of course there can be no longer any doubt as to the 

 propriety of admitting this fine species into the British list. The 

 females of the Eider Duck and King Duck are very hard to keep 

 apart; but the female Eider never gets so red or rufous as the 

 female King Duck often does, though some King Ducks — known 

 to be so — are quite as brown as any female Eiders. 



Velvet Scoter, Oidemia fusca (L.) 



Of Ducks I have, on my different visits, seen various species — 

 Merganser, Sheld Duck, Wild Duck, Teal, Golden-Eye, Long- 

 tailed Duck, Scoter, and Velvet Scoter. Dixon, the boatman, 

 told me that a few Velvet Scoters might be seen all the year 

 round. In August, 18G4, I shot a splendid old drake, with my 

 second barrel, after missing him with the first ; and the same day 

 I remember being nearly within shot of a Long-tailed Duck. I 

 dare say such opportunities may be of every-day occurrence to 

 Scotch naturalists, but to us Southerners they are rare.' 



* 



Common Gull, Larus canus, L. - 



Of all the funny things which have happened at the Fern 

 islands, the following is one of the most curious. It was told to 

 me as true by one old seaman, and corroborated by another. 

 These " old salts " were pursuing their calling one fine day when 

 their attention was drawn to a prodigious commotion among the 

 Gull community, which were clamouring over the fate of one of 

 their kin, which was fast held by one wing by an angler or devil- 

 fish. The whole affair was incontinently hauled on board, when 

 the Gull was discovered to be dead. Strange story as this was, 

 it was not altogether novel, as I have heard of Great Northern 

 Divers more than once having fallen victims in this same way. 

 The chapter of accidents to which birds are subject is much larger 

 than we think, f 



* Scarcely of 'every-day occurrence as regards the latter birds. They 

 usually keep far out from land, on the east coast of Scotland. In Shetland 

 they are perhaps most commonly procured. — J. A. H.-B. 



t I once saw a struggle between a Swan and a large Pike which had 

 seized the bird's foot. The commotion was great, but the bird succeeded in 

 flapping along the surface, and half lifted the Pike out of the water before 

 it loosed its hold. This was on a mill-dam belonging to the Carron Co. in 

 Stirlingshire. — J. A. H.-B. 



