BLACK SCOTER. 167 



of Fundy. On several parts of the continental 

 shores it appears more common than on our own 

 southern coasts, and Mr. Yarrell has described a 

 kind of Christmas battu which takes place annually, 

 in which the flocks are surrounded by boats and 

 numbers killed. Something similar is said also to 

 take place in Corsica. 



It is a smaller species than the last, but some- 

 what resembling it in form, the tail being rather more 

 wedge-shaped and lengthened. There is not a spot 

 of white on the whole bird, the feathers on the head 

 and neck are slightly elongated, their form marked, 

 and have a rich gloss of indigo-blue. The remain- 

 ing plumage is a deep dull black ; the first quill has 

 a considerable emargination ; the bill black, tarsi and 

 feet blackish red. Female blackish brown, paler 

 beneath. 



The last form which we have to notice among 

 the British ducks is that of the Eiders, Somateria 

 Leach, composed of large heavy birds, having the 

 bill enlarged or swollen at the base. In their habits 

 they are completely maritime. One bird which we 

 place provisionally among them, we do so with 

 some doubt, not having been able to examine it 

 minutely ; by ornithologists also it has been shifted 

 from genus to genus, and four different generic terms 



