GOLDEN-EYED DUCK — COMMON SCOTER. 205 



accompanied by two birds in the browner dress of the female 

 or young. The old male Golden Eye is a very conspicuous 

 duck ; on the second occasion here referred tOj I first detected 

 the presence of the di'ake as he headed a bunch of seven 

 Tufted Ducks flying up the water, his superior size and pure 

 white neck marking him out from the rest at the first glance. 

 In the neighbourhood of Standlake, where the Golden Eye is 

 of frequent occurrence,, it is known to the gunners as the ' Curr ' 

 or ' Kerr' (Warner, MS.). 



THE LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



Harelda glacialis. 



The Long-taUed Duck is a northern species, which only 

 occasionally wanders as far as the southern shores of Great 

 Britain in severe winters. Mr. Thomas Goatley informed the 

 Messrs. Matthews that a young male was shot at Standlake 

 in the winter of 1 840 ; and they mention, on the authority 

 of Dr. Kirtland, the occurrence of a second on the Isis, near 

 Iffley, in January, 1846 [Zoologist, p. 2539). 



THE EIDER DUCK. 



Somateria moUissima. 



The Eider Duck as a straggler inland is extremely rare. 

 The example recorded by Dr. Lamb as ' shot at Sunning, near 

 Reading, in a severe winter,' was, no doubt, killed on the 

 Thames, which here forms the county boundary {Ornithologia 

 Bercheria). 



THE COMMON SCOTER. cO ^ 



(Edemia nigra. 



The Common, or Black, Scoter is an occasional visitor from 

 the coast, of uncommon occurrence. The Messrs. Matthews 

 wrote of it as frequently visiting us in winter, but it can now 

 only be considered as a casual visitor to Oxon. The only 



