C. II Merriam — Birds of Connecticut. 127 



move and, notwithstanding their immense numbers, it is no easy 

 task to approach within gunshot of the flock. Though as strictly 

 maritime as any of our ducks, they have occasionally strayed so far 

 into the interior as Central Ohio (Wheaton). Mr. Grinnell tells me 

 that they occasionally breed here, but these maybe wounded birds — 

 "pensioners" as they are commonly called. Dr. Wood has taken it 

 on the Connecticut River above Hartford, but it is rare there. 



251. CamptolaemUS LabradoriuS (Gmelin) Gray. Labrador Duck; 

 Pied-Duck. 



A very rare winter visitor. Linsley took it at Stratford, Conn. 

 Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, says that this species was "sent from 

 Connecticut to Mrs. Blackburn,* in England.'" 



252. Somateria mollissima (Linne) Leach. Eider Duck. 



A rare winter visitant along our coast. Linsley states that "one 

 or two Eider Ducks were killed" at Stratford, Conn., by Mr. Lucius 

 Curtis. Mr. Grinnell tells me, that he saw a specimen killed on the 

 Sound, near ftlilford, Conn., by a gunner (Samuel Brown by name) 

 May 29th, 1877, and that two Eider Ducks, probably of this specie-, 

 were shot there in the fall of 1874. 



253. Somateria spectabilis (Linne) Boie. King Eider. 



A rare winter visitor, like the last, and also taken at Stratford, 

 Conn., by Linsley, who saya of it : "I have obtained here this season 

 two specimens of the King Duck, said never to have been seen here 

 before. They are among the best for the table."f Giraud also states 

 that " an adult male in perfect plumage was shot on Long Island 

 Sound, in the winter of 1839."J 



254. CEdemia Americana ("Wilson) Swainson. Black Scoter; Gray Coot. 



A tolerably common winter resident, but less so than either of the 

 following. Linsley had it from Stratford. Have seen it early in 

 October (October 4, 1876), and again in November, but the hunters 

 regard it as rather rare. It sometimes visits the Great Lakes in 

 winter, and Dr. Wheaton writes me that one was taken near Colum- 

 bus, Ohio, in Dec. 1876. 



* Arctic Zoology, vol. ii, p. 559, 1785. f Catal. Birds of Conn., p. 270, 184.!. 

 % Birds of Long Island, p. 333, 1844. 



