594 BRITISH BIRDS 



FULIGULA HISTRIONICA. 

 HARLEQUIN DUCK. 



(PLATE 65.) 



Anas torquata ex insula terrae novae, I - . . 



. , , , . , , 't Bnss. Orn. vi. pp. 362, 469 (1760). 



Anas querquedula treti nuclsonis, 1 



Anas histrionica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 204 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimomin 

 Gmelin, Latham, (Temminck), (Bonaparte), (Dresser), (Sounders), &c. 



Anas minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 204 (1766). 



Clangula histronica (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564. 



Fuligula (Clangula) histrionica (Linn.), Bonap. Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. York ii. 

 p. 394 (1826). 



Histrionicus histrionica (Linn.), Less. Man. cTOrn. ii. p. 415 (1828). 



Cosmonessa histrionica (Linn.), \ ^ , r . . ~ 



.,.,_. . \ r . ( ( Kaup. Naturl. Syst. pp. 46, 196 (1829). 

 Cosmenetta histrionica (Linn.), \ 



Fuligula histrionica (Linn.), Nutt. Man. Orn. ii. p. 448 (1834). 



Harelda histrionica (Linn.), Keys, fy Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. Ixxxvii (1840). 



Phylaconetta histrionica (Linn.), Brandt, Mem. Ac. St. Petersb. vi. p. 9 (1849). 



Clangula torquata, Brehm, Voydfang, p. 385 (1855). 



Histrionicus torquatus (Brehm), Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 651 (1856). 



Bucephala histrionica (Linn.), Gfray, Hand-l. B. iii. p. 87 (1871). 



Histrionicus ininutus (Linn.), Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 613 (1877). 



The Harlequin Duck has only a very questionable right to the title of 

 " British bird." Upwards of a score examples have been recorded as 

 British, but the researches of Mr. J. H. Gurney have shown that not more 

 than three of this long list are trustworthy (' Rambles of a Naturalist/ 

 p. 263). This bird was first recorded as British by Montagu in 1802, who 

 states, in his ' Ornithological Dictionary/ that he had examined a pair which 

 were killed on Lord Seaforth's estate (presumably in the island of Lewis) 

 in Scotland, and presented to Mr. Sowerby, of London. The other example, 

 about which no reasonable suspicion lingers, was killed in Aberdeenshire 

 in 1858. It was a male in full plumage, and was shot whilst swimming 

 close in shore after a storm (Gray, ' B. of West of Scotland/ p. 394, and 

 Gurney, ' Rambles of a Naturalist/ p. 265). These examples may fairly 

 be regarded as accidental wanderers from Iceland, as, according to Sclater 

 (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1880, p. 527), this species has never been kept in con- 

 finement. The Harlequin Duck has been said to breed in captivity (Brigge, 

 1 Zoologist/ 1850, p. 2949) ; but there is every reason to believe that the 

 bird alluded to was the Wood or Summer Duck, Anas sponsa, of North 

 America, as was shown by Newton (' Ibis/ 1859, p. 166). 



Clarke and Roebuck record no less than three examples of this Duck as 



