426 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family ANATID^E. Genus (EDEMIA. 



Subfamily 



SURF SCOTER. 



(EDEMIA PEKSPICILLATA (Linnceus). 



Anas perspicillata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 201 (1766). 



Oidemia perspicillata (Linn.), Macgill, Brit. B. v. p. 129 (1852). 



GEdemia perspicillata (Linn.), Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 669, pi. 450 (1877) ; Yarrell, 

 Brit. B. ed 4, iv. p. 481 (1885) ; Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 412 (1895) ; 

 Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. pt. xxxi. (1895) ; Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 48 

 (1896). 



Fuligula perspicillata (Linn.), Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 607 (1885); Dixon, 

 Nests and Eggs Non-indig. Brit. B. p. 176 (1894); Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs 

 Brit. B. p. 52, pi. 15 (1896). 



Geographical distribution. British : The Surf Scoter is a rare 

 straggler in winter to the British Islands, and known to be such for upwards of 

 sixty years. It was first recorded by Blyth in 1838, from a somewhat doubt- 

 ful example sent in the flesh to Bartlett, which may or may not have been 

 captured in this country in a wild state. The other evidence of this bird's claim 

 to rank as "British" is as follows England: Cumberland (one example), 

 August, 1856; Yorkshire (one example), October, 1860; Lancashire (one 

 example), December, 1882 ; Dorset (two examples), winter, 1851, December, 

 1853 ; South Devon (three examples) ; Cornwall (one example) , no exact date ; 

 Scilly Isles (two examples) , September, 1865, October, 1867. Ireland: Belfast 

 Lough (two examples, one shot), September, 1846; Co. Dublin (one example), 

 October, 1880; Co. Cork (one example), November, 1888; Achill Island (one 

 example) Moy estuary (two examples. Scotland: Edinburgh Co. (one example), 

 spring, 1852; Stornoway, Outer Hebrides (one example), winter, 1865; North 

 Shetland (one example, said to have been seen by Mr. Dunn), June, 1847; The 

 Orkneys are apparently the most favoured locality of this species in its erratic 

 visits (six examples secured, many others seen and identified), March, 1866, 

 February, 1872, 1876, October, 1880. Foreign: Northern Nearctic region, more 

 southerly in winter. It breeds in the Arctic and Subarctic regions of America 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, as far north as lat. 70, and as far south as lat. 

 50. In winter it strays down the Pacific coasts as far as Lower California ; 

 inland it is found at that season on the Great Lakes ; whilst on the Atlantic 

 coasts it extends as far as Florida, and occasionally visits the Bermudas and 



