CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 167 



BLACK TERN.— (Autumn.) 



Case 212. 



The old birds showing the change into winter phimage, 

 and the young in their first feathers, are occasionally 

 observed in this country as early as July ; but it is not 

 till August and September that we are visited by the 

 main body while on their way to their winter quarters. 

 The specimens in the case were shot on Hickling 

 Broad in the beginning of August, 1873. 



LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



Case 213. 



This Duck is only a vrinter visitor to the British 

 islands, arriving in September, and departing in March 

 or April ; immature or backward birds being, however, 

 occasionally observed in May and June. 



Though a few straggling parties at times find their 

 way as far south as the English Channel, this bird is 

 seldom met with in any numbers except off the coast 

 of the north of Scotland. 



Its note is most peculiar, one of its local names, 

 viz., '-Coal and candle light," being derived from a 

 resemblance it is supposed to have to those w^ords^ 

 which the bird pronounces in a sing-song manner. 



The specimens in the case were shot at the mouth 

 of the Little Ferry, near Golspie, in Sutherland, in 

 March, 1869. 



