ANATID^. 



457 



'"•la^ ^^^--- —, ' -.^ 



THE HARLEQUIN DUCK. 



CosMONETTA HisTRioNiCA (Linnaeus). 



As shown by Prof. Newton in 'The Ibis,' 1859, pp. 162-166, 

 and also by Mr. J. H. Gurney in his ' Rambles of a Naturalist,' 

 pp. 263-269 (1876), the majority of the birds which have from 

 time to time been recorded as Harlequin Ducks obtained in Great 

 Britain have been proved — where proof was possible — to be Long- 

 tailed Ducks, American Wood-Ducks, or some other species. It 

 appears probable, however, that the specimens figured by James 

 Sowerby in his 'British Miscellany' (1806), were procured in 

 Scotland ; the collection of Mr. J. Whitaker of Rainworth contains 

 a male bird obtained by Mr. Roberts of Scarborough from some 

 fishermen who had found it dead on the shore at Filey in the 

 autumn of 1862 ; while on December 2nd 1886, three individuals 

 were observed near the Fame Islands, off the coast of Northumber- 

 land, and two young males which were secured are, respectively, in 

 the collections of Mr. R. W. Chase and the Rev. Julian Tuck. 



A male Harlequin Duck in the Upsala collection is supposed to 



