70 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Eider {S. v-nigruTn), Mr. Stubbs wrote Dr. Bowcller Sharpe 

 to the effect that he had received an example of that species 

 from Orkney, and that he was forwardmg the carcase and 

 his notes. Dr. Sharpe in a reply dated 18th December, 



1904, wrote : " We think that the Eider is really S. v-nigrum, 

 but it would be more satisfactory if you would send me the 

 specimen for examination." In due course the bird was 

 sent up to London and exhibited at a meeting of the 

 B.O. Club, held on January 18th, 1905, and Mr. Stubbs' 

 identification was confirmed. 



The matter received much attention at the time, a full 

 page illustration of the bird, from the brush of Mr. Lodge, 

 was given in the '•' Illustrated London News," at least one 

 other popular journal gave a figure, and the published 

 notes on the subject were very many. 



In February, 1905, I journeyed to Orkney, making 

 Stromness my headquarters as usual. I knew both 

 George Sutherland and his uncle, Sam Sutherland, and I 

 questioned them very closely as to the details of the drake 

 which George had shot, and which, at the time, I fully 

 believed, not having seen the bird, to be a true example of 

 8. v-nigrum. The bird, so far as the Sutherlands could 

 see, had no great peculiarity about it, except that it was 

 very white, being a fully adult male, and that it had a 

 small V-mark on the throat, a mark very rarely seen, but 

 which Sam Sutherland declared he had seen at least once 

 before. 



On December 12th, 1905, my friend Mr. Robinson 

 received an Eider drake, which showed an indistinct 

 V-mark imder the chin. This bird was shot by Sam 

 Sutherland off Graemsay, Orkney, on December 7th, 



1905. Naturally Mr. Robinson and I thought this bird 

 might be a Pacific Eider, but to make quite certain it was 

 forwarded to the British Museum. It was carefully 

 examined by Dr. Sharpe and Mr. Saunders, and the latter 

 wrote me : " Dr. Sharpe and I devoted Friday and 

 Saturday mornings to Eiders, and we make Mr. Robinson's 

 drake a Common Eider." 



