162 On the Ornithology of Wilts \_AnatidcB], 



squeezed into a hat-box for the convenience of transport. On the 

 northern shores of England, and in Scotland, it is commonly met 

 with, but is rarely seen on our more southern coasts ; so that I the 

 more marvel what fortunate accident has enabled me to add it to 

 our Wiltshire list. But an undoubted specimen of this bird was 

 killed a few years back on the water at Lyneham, the property of 

 Mr. Heneage, and is still to be seen in the Hall at Compton Basset 

 House. It is however notorious for very powerful flight, and the 

 speed at which it flies ia marvellous : but it is very inactive and 

 sluggish on land. The beak of the Eider Duck has a thick swollen 

 appearance, and is terminated with a strong rounded hooked nail. 



"King Duck." {Somateria spedahilis.) This is another species 

 of Eider Duck, more rare in England than the last, but frequenting 

 the same or even still more northern latitudes than its better known 

 congener. It is also a very handsome bird, and the well-contrasted 

 colours of its plumage attract notice. The only information I have 

 of its occurrence in this county, is a short note by my friend the 

 late Mr. Marsh, who wrote " the King Duck in my Collection was 

 killed in Wilts," but I have no farther particulars of date or place 

 of capture. The down of the King Eider, and its mode of nesting, 

 as well as general habits, are identical with those of S. Mollissima. 



" Common Scoter." {Oidemia nigra.) The specific name «?^m 

 sufficiently describes the appearance of this bird, whose plumage 

 may be shortly defined, as deep black in the male, and brownish 

 black in the female. It is a very common bird on the coast, and 

 doubtless visits us in this county occasionally, but the only positive 

 evidence I have of its recent occurrence in Wilts is from my kind 

 correspondent, the Rev. George Powell, Rector of Sutton Yeney, 

 who met with a specimen on Salisbury Plain in 1849 : and Yarrell 

 mentions that though seldom found on fresh water inland during 

 winter, yet the late Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart, sent him word 

 that his keeper had shot a Scoter on the ornamental water in the 

 park at Stourhead, Wiltshire, which is more than twenty miles 

 from the sea in a straight line, and no such bird had been seen there 

 before." In truth it is a thoroughly oceanic bird, a true jack tar 

 which seldom comes ashore, and there cuts but a sorry figure ; but 



