Mr. W. Thompson on the Occurrence of a Surf Scoter. 369 



to point of quills 9 inches 2 lines ; tarsus 1 inch 6 lines ; middle 

 toe and nail 2 inches 8 lines ; breadth across the wings 27 inches/' 

 as noted during my absence from home by Dr. J. D. Marshall, 

 but for whose kindness, and the considerate attention of Mr. 

 Darragh (Curator of the Belfast Museum), I might not have 

 had the opportunity of seeing the bird, and certainly could not 

 have known the kind of food which it procured on our coast, or 

 the form of its trachea. The contents of the stomach, preserved 

 for my inspection, consisted of ten perfect specimens of Nucula 

 margaritacea, from small to adult size, and a portion of the shell 

 of a very large Solen pellucidus, with fragments of the shells of 

 other species. The bay where this bird was shot is of a sandy 

 nature, such as Wilson remarks is frequented by the species on 

 the coast of North America. The only Mollusca that he parti- 

 cularises as its food is " spoutfish " (Solen), one of which was 

 found in the present specimen : this and " small bivalve shell- 

 fish," he remarks, are its principal food. As the species of Nu- 

 cula mentioned is generally dredged in from three to five fathoms 

 (18 — 30 feet) water in Ballyholme Bay, we must suppose that the 

 bird dived to that depth to obtain these shell-fish : — a supposi- 

 tion in accordance with Audubon's remark, that this species " is 

 frequently observed fishing at the depth of several fathoms." 



All the general descriptions of the colours of the Surf Scoter 

 sufficiently mark the species, but none that I had read gave me a 

 proper idea of the beauty of the head and bill — more especially 

 of the latter — as exhibited in the bird before me. Its entire plu- 

 mage is of a rich black colour with a reddish violet reflection, 

 excepting the pure white marking in front of the head between 

 the eyes, and that of the same colour extending down the nape. 

 The former is heart-shaped, 1^ inch in length, and the same in 

 breadth ; the latter occupies 2f inches in length, is 10 lines in 

 breadth at the top, and gradually narrows downwards to a point. 

 The irides are pure white. A peculiar and handsome feature is 

 presented in the plumage advancing so far down the ridge of the 

 bill as to be half-way between its lateral base and the tip, and 

 in a vertical line with the nostrils. The whole of the elevated 

 portion of the upper mandible next the frontal base is of a car- 

 mine-red shading into rich yellowish orange, which occupies the 

 portion from the nostrils forward to the unguis, this being of a 

 paler shade of the latter colour. The anterior half of the space 

 between the nostrils and the lateral base of the bill is white of 

 a pearly lustre ; the posterior half chiefly occupied by a nearly 

 square black spot (7 lines in diameter) in a " setting " as it were, 

 of three colours ; — the portion of the mandible between it and 

 the lateral base (a line in breadth) being carmine-red ; that above 

 it gamboge-yellow ; below it white, of a pearly lustre as it is an- 



