THE SURF SCOTER. 



(Edemia perspicillata. 



PLATE VIII. 



Anas perspicillata, Linn. (Edemia perspicillata, Flem. 

 <Jc. The Surf Duck, or Scoter of British authors. 



THIS curiously marked duck will give some idea of 

 the form and appearance of the genus now under 

 consideration. The bill, w r hich is not so flat and 

 becomes more narrowed to wards the tip in the more 

 typical species, begins to assume the tumid form 

 and raised basal protuberance which will be seen in 

 the next group of birds or eiders. The Surf Scoter 

 is an extremely rare bird in Britain, and even in 

 Europe ; the coasts of North America being its real 

 habitation. It has been stated by most of our 

 modern British ornithologists, that specimens of 

 this bird occur now and then in the vicinity of the 

 Orkney and Shetland Islands, but we are not aware 

 of any being very lately procured there. In the 

 birds of Europe, a specimen is stated to have been 

 killed in the Firth of Forth, and Mr. Yarrell re- 

 cords another instance of a recent specimen coming 



