264 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



tured," and another merely says that it is " more rare than 

 the Long-tailed Duck." It may not therefore be labour in 

 vain if I proceed to show that Messrs. Yarrell and Gould 

 were not alive to its real scarcity, by bringing together the 

 various supposed instances of its occurrence, and showing 

 how little all of them were worth on investigation ; but 

 as Professor Newton and Mr. Harting have already been 

 over the same ground (Ibis, 1859, p. 165 ; Hand-book 

 of B. B., p. 160), it is not to be expected that I should have 

 much new matter to bring forward, and I have not. For 

 the sake of expedition, I may as well dismiss the cases 

 already disposed of by Professor Newton, and commence 

 with 1802, when Mr. Montagu published his " Ornithological 

 Dictionary," and this Duck was introduced on the authority 

 of Mr. James Sowerby, who had received a pair from 

 Lord Seaforth. No doubt these are what Mr. Mudie refers 

 to when he says (B. B., II., p. 354) that the Harlequin has 

 been seen in Lewis, as I understand that this island was 

 Lord Seaforth's estate. For the following note by the late 

 veteran naturalist J. E. Gray, I am indebted to Professor 

 Newton : — 



"The Sowerby Museum was in Meade Place, Lambeth, near 

 the Orphan Asylum. It became in a bad state from neglect, and 

 some specimens were sold privately, and the rest at the auction 

 rooms, now Stevens'. I do not know what became of the Duck. 

 I think I recollect it in a separate glass case as was then the 

 fashion, but rather baddish in condition." 



The above does not furnish us with much information, 

 nor am I more fortunate in regard to Mr. Simmons' young 

 female from Orkney, about which I have nothing fresh to 

 impart, though I should say prima facie that its being a 

 young female is against it, for as will be seen in the sequel, 

 the young of this species and the young of the Long-tailed 

 Duck have been several times confounded. It is not very 



