VELVET SCOTER, 477 



the south coast of England it is not unfrequent in winter, 

 but never numerous, the narrow seas being ill-suited to a 

 species which, as a rule, likes to keep at some distance from 

 land. It is, however, occasionally found on inland waters, 

 and Mr, Abel Chapman informs the Editor that he once shot 

 an adult female on Darden lough, Northumberland, twenty- 

 three miles from the sea and 1200 ft, above it. On the 

 coast of that county it is of irregular occurrence in winter ; 

 but Mr. George Bolam records an exceptional instance of a 

 male bird which frequented the rocks in the vicinity of 

 Berwick pier throughout the summer of 1879. It was con- 

 stantly seen by the men engaged at the salmon fishery there, 

 and used often to allow their boat to pass quite close to it 

 without any apparent alarm ; never more than one bird was 

 seen at a time, and it remained in the neighbourhood until 

 about the middle of September. 



Mr. R. Gray speaks of the Velvet Scoter as more abundant 

 on the east side of Scotland than on the west ; and Saxby 

 says that it is merely an unusual winter visitant to the Shet- 

 lands, although rather common in the Orkneys, especially 

 after southerly gales. There is evidence that the Velvet 

 Scoter may occasionally have bred in some parts of Scotland, 

 for eggs taken there, and resembling the somewhat unmis- 

 takable ones of this species, have been shown to Mr. H. J. 

 Elwes, and others were brought to Mr. E. T. Booth, but as 

 yet the suj^position has not been confirmed by the capture of 

 the parent bird. On the Irish coast the Velvet Scoter is 

 comparatively rare, and on the western side it is almost 

 unknown ; but off the south coast, and far out at sea in the 

 Irish Channel, it is not unfrequently met with. 



It has been erroneously stated that the Velvet Scoter in- 

 habits the Fffiroe Islands and Iceland, but as a matter of 

 fact it has only once been recorded in the former, and not at 

 all in the latter. A single specimen obtained near Godhaab, 

 Greenland, is now in the Copenhagen Museum. As regards 

 Scandinavia, the following remarks were supplied to the 

 Author by the late Richard Dann : — " This Duck is common 

 during the summer months in the interior of the whole of 



