HARLEQUIN DUCK. 263 



quin Dack was first noticed as a Britisli Duck in the orni- 

 thological Dictionary of Colonel Montagu, published in 1802. 

 His descriptions were taken from a pair of birds that had 

 been killed in Scotland, and sent by Lord Scaforth to Mr. 

 James Sowerby, who published coloured figures of them in 

 1806, in his British Miscellany, tab. 6, page 11. Mr. 

 Sowerby afterwards received a young female of the same 

 species from Mr. Simmons, who shot it on one of the Ork- 

 neys. It is, however, a very rare bird here, and but few 

 occurrences are recorded. Dr. Edward Moore has noticed 

 one that was obtained in Devonshire, in the winter of 1830. 

 Some years since I bought two in the London market during 

 the same winter ; both of them were young females. Mr. 

 Paget has recorded one that was obtained at Yarmouth ; 

 and the gamekeeper of Sir Philip Egerton shot one, a 

 female, in Cheshire, in December 1 840, during a frost. 



It has been taken on the coast of France, according to 

 M. Vieillot, and occasionally in Germany. M. Nilsson says 

 it visits Sweden ; it is said to be found in Russia, and from 

 Lake Baikal to Kamschatka. 



The Harlequin Duck breeds in Iceland ; and the egg- 

 figured in Mr. Hewitson's work was brought from that island 

 by G. C. Atkinson, Esq. of Newcastle, " who found a nest 

 containing seven or eight eggs, deposited in a bed of the 

 bird's down, upon the grass, bordering the margin of a 

 shallow lake." The egg is of a pale buff colour, tinged 

 with green, and measuring two inches one-eighth in length, 

 by one inch five-eighths in breadth. This duck also in- 

 habits Greenland, and the most northern parts of the Ame- 

 rican continent. Dr. Richardson, in reference to its habits, 

 says that it haunts eddies under cascades, and rapid streams. 

 It takes wing at once when disturbed, and is very vigilant. 

 It was never seen associating with any other Duck. Colour- 

 ed figures of both sexes will be found in Edwards' Gleanings 



