i6o THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



remains in the North as long as any surface of water 

 remains unfrozen. Pulteney says of it : — " It visits 

 the county of Dorset in hard winters, and has been 

 shot at St. Giles." In 1840 two were shot at Poole 

 as late as the month of May ; a young male in the 

 Portland Roads, January 17, 1852 ; one on the Wey- 

 mouth Backwater in January 1857; one shot and 

 another seen on the Fleet, Abbotsbury, in December 

 1874 ; ^^ immature female shot at Poole in December 

 1885. In November 18S7 several of these birds 

 frequented Poole harbour, and five were shot. One 

 of these, an old male in good plumage, I secured 

 for my collection ; the other four were immature 

 birds. 



EIDER DUCK. Somateria mollissima, (L.) 



Yarrell,\Y. p. 457; Harting, p. 67; Dresser, vi. p. 629; See- 

 bohm, iii. p. 6i6; Ibis List, p. 134. 



Although it breeds in the North of England and 

 Scotland, the Eider Duck is a rare straggler to 

 Dorsetshire. A few appear to wander southward 

 down the east coast in autumn, and find their way 

 into the English Channel, passing along the Dorset- 

 shire coast to Devon and Cornwall. One was shot 

 at Poole in 1868; a young bird was killed on the 

 Fleet, out of a flock of Wigeon, in December 1869. 

 Nine were seen at the same place, November 27, 

 1 87 1, of which four were shot (W. Thompson). One 

 was obtained at Poole, November 26, 1S84. 



