COMMON SCOTER. 473 



observed throughout the entire length of the Enghsh 

 Channel. Comparatively few approach the shores, or enter 

 the bays, except in coarse weather ; but storm-driven birds 

 are occasionally to be found on inland sheets of water. On 

 the western side of England and Scotland it is less abundant. 

 In spring the majority of our winter visitants take their 

 departure for the north-east of Europe ; but a certain number 

 remain to breed in the boggy swamps of Caithness. Mr. J. 

 Watson states (Zool. s.s. p. 1867) that he saw three pairs of 

 birds, and obtained a female with nine eggs, at Strathmore ; 

 and a few also breed in Sutherlandshire and Inverness-shire. 



In Ireland, Sir R. Payne-Gallwey states that on the 

 northern marine loughs and in the bays, especially at Bel- 

 fast and Dundalk, Scoters abound every winter : and some- 

 times they are to be seen in thousands. On the west coast 

 they are considered uncommon, and in the south more than 

 six or eight are seldom seen together. 



The Scoter visits the Faeroes, and breeds sparingly in 

 Iceland. In Norway, Sweden, and Northern Russia, it is a 

 generally distributed species during the summer ; and on 

 the coasts and some of the inland waters of the rest of 

 Europe, it occurs with tolerable regularity in winter. On 

 the northern shores of France it is excessively abundant, 

 and some remain there throughout the year. Westward its 

 migrations extend to the Azores ; it is very common off the 

 coast of Portugal in winter, and it visits the south of Spain 

 and the shores of North-western Africa ; but it is very rare 

 throughout the rest of the Mediterranean.* It appears to 

 pass along the valley of the Volga to the Caspian ; and 

 Canon Tristram says it is found on the coast of Palestine in 

 winter. Its breeding-range probably extends across the 

 mainland of Northern Asia ; for Von Middendorff shot a 

 pair nesting on the Boganida ; but in Japan and the North 



* In French the ordinary name of the Scoter is Macreiise, but in Provence 

 the term is applied to the Coot ( Fidica atra). Ignorance of this fact led the 

 Author to publish in former Editions a long account of the battues directed 

 against the Coots on the salt-lakes of Provence, under the impression that the 

 species intended was the Scoter ; the latter is, however, almost unknown there, 

 and has only once been recorded on the shores of Italy. — [Ed.] 



VOL. IV. 3 P 



