72 Prof. E. Arrigoni Degli oddi on Anatidfe 



often flap their short wings and alter their direction by 

 turning their bodies from side to side. While swimming 

 they continually fish, and prefer to stay where the water is 

 the deepest and where the flow is the most rapid. They 

 feed on small fishes and on seaweeds, such as Zostera marina, 

 Z. nana, and Ruppia maritima, 



11. SOMATEIIIA MOLLISSIMA. 



Only two specimens of the Eider Duck have been obtained 

 in the Venetian estuary — namely, a male and a female by 

 Count Ninni in 1882. The former was killed at the mouth 

 of the port of Tre Porti on the 1st October, and the latter 

 in the lagoon on the 20th November. Some days after, 

 i. e. December 25th, a third was seen in company with several 

 Velvet Scoters. 



The Common Eider is a straggler and rarely seen in the 

 Venetian or any other part of the Italian dominions. It has 

 appeared between October and April, and generally in young- 

 plumage. The specimens in Count Camozzi's collection at 

 Bergamo, and Dal Flume's collection at Badia Polesina, 

 labelled as coming from Venice and Lecco respectively, 

 cannot positively be said to have been obtained in Italy. 

 The Eider is exclusively a shore-bird, and very seldom 

 forsakes the sea-coast in its migrations. 



12. SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS. 



The splendid specimen of the King-Eider in Count Ninni's 

 collection is, so far as I know, the only one that has been 

 killed in Italy. It was obtained on the 21st August, 

 1888, at the " Pignatelle "*, by the punt-gunner G. Minotto. 

 The stomach was full of remains of crabs [Carcinus 

 mcBnas). Minotto observed that the bird was not at all 

 shy, and that to feed it dived and reappeared on the 

 surface of the water after a somewhat long interval, after 

 the manner of the Goldeneye. The sternum, with the 

 trachea, of this bird was given by Count Ninni to the 

 Museum at Florence. Count Ninni and the well-known 

 authority Prof. Gigliolif believe that the specimen is a 

 * Ninni, Boll. Nat. viii. p. 137 (1888). 

 t Cf. Avif. Ital. i. p. 493 (1889). 



