48o 



VELVET SCOTER. 

 GEdemia fusca (Z.). 



Winter visitant in small numbers. Has occurred inland. 



The first British information containing the Velvet Scoter 

 appears in Willughby's " Ornithology," where there is a 

 description given which leaves no doubt as to the identity 

 of the bird. It is under the heading of : — 



" Aldrovandus his Black Duck. The description of this 

 bird we owe to Mr. Johnson [of Brignall, near Greta Bridge] 

 with whom also we saw its case stuft." (Will. " Orn." 1678, 



P- 363-) 



Thomas Allis, in his Report, 1844, wrote : — 



CEdemia fusca. — Velvet Scoter — F. O. Morris and H. Reid report 

 one shot at Bentley by the gamekeeper of Sir W. B. Cooke, which is 

 in the possession of that gentleman ; it is obtained occasionally at the 

 reservoirs on the moors near Huddersfield ; A. Strickland says " Though 

 this is a marine bird it is one of our scarcer species and seldom killed 

 near Bridlington." 



Essentially an oceanic species, this fine duck is almost 

 entirely restricted to the seaboard, where it arrives in small 

 flocks during the first October gales ; the earliest date of its 

 appearance of which I am aware is 21st September 1891, 

 when one was captured after a strong on-shore wind ; on 

 nth August 1877 ^our flew past me while at sea, but these 

 were in all probability individuals which had remained 

 throughout the summer, as the preceding species often does. 



The Velvet Scoter is not common anywhere in Yorkshire ; 

 at Bridlington a small flock is usually to be seen in the Bay, 

 consorting with Common Scoters ; it is rare at Flamborough, 

 Scarborough, and Whitby ; and is perhaps most numerous 

 in the neighbourhood of Redcar and the Teesmouth, where 

 it is a regular visitant in limited numbers, sometimes 

 associating with the huge packs of its more common congener, 

 but generally keeping apart from them. Its large size and 

 the conspicuous white alar patch render it easily distinguish- 



