226 ANATID.E. 



the measurements here given and some other particulars 

 ■were derived. M. Vicillot says that this species appears 

 sometimes on the coast of Picardy, and that it lives on fishes 

 and testaceous mollusca, which are obtained by diving. Pro- 

 fessor Schinz mentions one killed in Switzerland, in April 

 1818. Messrs. Meyer and Wolf include this Duck in their 

 pocket volumes of the Birds of Germany ; and Professor 

 Nilsson gives a coloured figure of the male in his illustrated 

 Fauna of Scandinavia, in consequence of the occurrence of 

 the species in that country. It is only, however, on the 

 shores of high latitudes in North America that Surf Scoters 

 in any quantity can be observed; and the accounts of Wilson 

 and Mr. Audubon must be referred to for a knowledge of 

 their habits in localities where they are abundant. 



Wilson says, " this Duck is confined to the shores and 

 bays of the sea, particularly where the waves roll over the 

 sandy beach. Their food consists principally of small bivalve 

 shell-fish, spout-fish, and others that lie in the sand near its 

 surface. For these they dive almost constantly, both in the 

 sandy bays and amidst the tumbling surf. They seldom or 

 never visit the salt marshes. They continue on our shores 

 during the winter, and leave us early in May, for their breed- 

 ing places in the North. Their skins are remarkably strong, 

 and their flesh coarse, tasting of fish. They are common in 

 winter along the whole coast, from the river St. Lawrence to 

 Florida. This species was also found by Captain Cook, at 

 Nootka Sound, on the north-west coast of America." 



Mr. Audubon's account furnishes many interesting par- 

 ticulars, and a portion of it is as follows : — " While proceed- 

 ing towards the sterile country of Labrador, in 1833, on 

 board the Ripley, I found the waters of the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence alive with ducks of different species. The nearer 

 we approached the coast, the more numerous did they be- 

 come ; and of the many kinds that presented themselves to 



