i io THE FOWLER IN IRELAND, 



the dark-coloured birds (immature males and females) 

 a much smaller kind, also darkly plumaged. I only 

 once saw a light plumaged specimen of this smaller 

 species, which I knew to be a nearly adult male. 

 It differed from the male Goldeneye in having a 

 white spot, or rather streak, above and behind the 

 eye, instead of under and before it. I followed this 

 bird for two days, feeling sure that it was a male 

 BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK (Clangula albeola), but with- 

 out success. One morning I found it swimming in 

 the midst of a score of other diving ducks. Now, 

 I thought, was my chance, but no ; out of a dozen 

 picked up the stranger was not among the slain, and 

 I never saw him again. This bird two or three 

 times swam alongside an old black-and-white male 

 Goldeneye, and appeared to be about one-third 

 smaller. 



THE COMMON SCOTER (CEdemia nigra), though 

 plentiful on some parts of the coasts of England and 

 France, is rare in the south of Ireland, more than 

 six to eight being seldom seen together. At the wide 

 entrance to Castlemaine Bay, co. Kerry, and near 

 Inch Point, a dozen or more may sometimes be 

 noticed. Lord Ventry informs me that he has 

 picked up water-soaked and storm-driven Scoters 

 on this Point, scarcely able to breathe. Their rich, 

 velvety black plumage, and orange knob at the base 

 of the bill, distinguish them at a long distance, 

 and they may be easily known from the two other 

 species of Scoter, which are more rarely met with, 

 by their smaller size and the absence of white on the 

 wing or neck. They are seldom seen alone, and 

 revel in the sea, whereon they ride in the roughest 



