90 
procuring ezght eggs. | Were it not for the fine texture 
the egg of the American Wigeon is its fac-simile. 
THE HOODED SHELDRAKE. 
(LopHopYTES CUCULLATUS.) 
Admitted to the B.O.U. List. 
Admitted by H. Saunders, 
Admitted by Seebohm. 
Rejected by Mr. Dresser from his “ Birds of Europe.” I 
believe, however, he admits the authenticity of a late 
occurrence; Lord Lilford’s book will shew. 
The name for thetr own bird given by the American 
Ornithologists, is not given among the synonyms in the 
BOs list. 
Among the occurrences, which have been justly 
received as reasonably authentic, I must think that the 
genuineness of the birds seen by Mr. J. Colquhoun should 
be admitted: he describes, in his ‘Sporting Days,” how, 
when stalking an Eider Duck, in the Firth of Forth, 5th 
May,1853, “three ducks swam before him; the leading bird with 
ahead like a Hoopoe; and the white patch distinctly visible which 
proclaimed it no other than the Hooded Merganser”; but 
before he could reload his gun, they were out of his reach. 
Audubon’s description of the eggs is certainly 
incorrect. 
I have a clutch of six eggs; more or less globular . 
they are like billiard balls, but of a purer white, and the 
shell so strong, that they click against each other like 
billiard balls; they were taken by Mr. W.W. Smith, roth 
May, 1875, at S. Clair, Michigan, the nest, in a hollow 
oak stump, was lined with down upon small twigs. 
