148 



LONG-TAILED DUCK. 

 Case 213. 



This Duck is only a winter visitor to the 

 British islands, arriving in September and departing 

 in March or April ; immature or backward birds 

 being, however, occasionally observed in May and 

 June. 



Though a few straggling parties at times find 

 their way as far south as the English Channel, this 

 bird is seldom met with in any numbers except off 

 the coast of the north of Scotland. 



Its note is most peculiar ; one of its local 

 names, " Coal and candle light," being derived from 

 a resemblance its note is supposed to have to those 

 words which the bird pronounces in a sing-song 

 manner. 



The specimens in the case were shot at the 

 mouth of the Little Ferry near Golspie in 

 Sutherland in March, 1869. 



RAZOR BILL. (SUMMER). 

 Case 214. 



The birds are here represented at the foot of 

 the Bass Hock. 



Numbers of Guillemots, Puffins, and Razor 

 Bills, may be observed about daybreak resting on 

 the lower ledges, but the approach of a boat always 

 drives them into the water. 



The ordinary visitor to the rock would never 

 imagine the animated appearance of the spot if 

 viewed shortly after sunrise. 



Both at the Bass Rock and the Fern Islands 

 these birds from some unknown cause are rapidly 

 becoming scarcer year by year. Indeed, I expect 

 that they have now entirely ceased to breed on the 

 Ferns. At the time of my last visit in 1867, there 

 was but a single pair frequenting the Islands. 



