132 OIDEMIA PERSPICILLATA. 



Length to end of tail 19 inches ; wing from flexure 8| ; 

 tarsus If ; middle toe and claw 2f . 



Habits. — This species is described by Mr. Audubon as 

 abundant in winter on the eastern coasts of America, ex- 

 tending as far southward as the mouths of the Mississippi. 

 In Labrador he found a few in summer, and in a marsh 

 came upon a female sitting on her eggs. " The nest was 

 snugly placed amid the tall leaves of a bunch of grass, and 

 raised fully four inches above its roots. It was entirely 

 composed of withered and rotten weeds, the former being 

 circularly arranged over the latter, producing a well-rounded 

 cavity, six inches in diameter, by two and a half in depth. 

 The borders of this inner cup were lined with the down of 

 the bird, in the same manner as the Eider Duck's nest, and 

 in it lay five eggs, the smallest number I have ever found in 

 any Duck's nest. They were two inches and two and a half 

 eighths in length, by one inch and five-eighths in their greatest 

 breadth, more equally rounded at both ends than usual, the 

 shell perfectly smooth, and of a uniform pale yellowish or 

 cream-colour." Its habits are represented as similar to those 

 of the other species, its food consisting of shell-fish, for which 

 it dives in shallow water, often even amidst the breakers, 

 whence its name of Surf Duck. That of perspicillata, or 

 spectacled, has reference to the two black, margined patches 

 on the sides of its bill. 



Mr. Gould states that he has received a female killed in 

 the Firth of Forth ; and Mr. Bartlett had a recently killed 

 specimen sent to him for preservation, from which Mr. 

 Yarrell derived some particulars of his description of the 

 species. This, I believe, is the only positive evidence of its 

 occurrence in Britain ; for although Dr. Fleming and other 

 British writers, as well as M. Temminck, speak of its being 

 occasionally found among the Shetland and Orkney Islands, 

 they do not specify instances. Messrs. Baikie and Heddle, 

 however, state that in Orkney " Surf Scoters appear in small 

 flocks in the sounds during winter." " They generally arrive 

 in October, and have been observed till the end of March." 

 Mr. Thompson has recorded the capture of one in Belfast 



