DIVING-DUCKS. 223 



perhaps, never occurred oi the coast, and as for the Hooded 

 Merganser, I may state my private opinion (despite the very 

 circumstantial descriptions of it given by certain writers, 

 which I regard as mere guess-work), that it has never 

 occurred in Britain at all. None of the evidence of its 

 alleged occurrences is direct, or sufficiently satisfactory to 

 establish a scientific fact. That the Hooded Merganser 

 does visit Ireland has recently been demonstrated by the 

 tangible proof of three specimens shot in that country by 

 Sir R. P. Gallwey. Being a North American species, 

 Ireland is where one would most naturally look for its cis- 

 Atlantic appearance ; but, so far as England or Scotland 

 is concerned, the Hooded Merganser might well be expunged 

 from the list of feathered inhabitants.* 



* The above remarks may appear too sweeping; but I prefer to let 

 tbem stand, and for a statement of the facts respecting the occur- 

 rences of this and other reputed British birds, would refer my readers 

 to " Yarrell " (4th ed.), where all the evidence is set out with judicial 

 impartiality — as regards the Hooded Merganser, at vol. iv., p. 510. 



