C. IT. MerriiUti — Birds of Connecticnt. 127 



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

 task to approaeli witliin gunshot of the tlock. Though as strietly 

 maritime as any of our dueks, tliey have oeeasionally strayed so far 

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

 that they oeeasionally breed here, hut tliese maybe wounded Itirds — 

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

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



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

 Pied-Duck. 



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

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

 Gonnecticvt to Mrs. Blackburn,* in England." 



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



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

 or tw'o Eider Ducks were killed" at Sti'atford, Conn., by Mr. Lucius 

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

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

 May 29th, 1877, and that two Eider Ducha, proOabli/ of this species, 

 were shot there in the tall of 1874. 



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



A rare w^inter visitor, like the last, and also taken at Stratford, 

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

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

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

 that " an adult male in j^erfect ^jlumage 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, 18-1:!. 

 X Birds of Long Island, p. ?,3?,, 1844. 



