BIRDS. 177 



second or third year's plumages in Orkney, though they are 

 not, in the former, very rare in Scotland generally. He adds 

 that the birds in the third year's plumage are always rare, and 

 he has only killed two males in that state. 



On June llth, 1889, we saw three Golden-eyes, apparently 

 young males, on the loch of Skaill, and Mr. Watt informed u& 

 that they had been there all the season. 



Cosmonetta histrionica (L.). Harlequin Duck, 



[Ols. We have nothing to add to what Messrs. Baikie and Heddle 

 have already written on this bird ; but. knowing how rare it is, 

 and how very unsatisfactory the evidence regarding the speci- 

 mens referred to this species has turned out, we keep it in 

 brackets until some better-authenticated example occurs.] 



Harelda glacialis (L.). Long-tailed Duck, 

 Ore. = Caloo. 



A. very common species in winter. Mr. Moodie-Heddle tells u& 

 he has seen several in July, and many now remain until May. 



Mr. Irvine-Fortescue says a few Long-tailed Ducks frequent 

 the loch of Stenness in small flocks, never above a dozen. 

 He has also seen a few immature birds in Harray, but never 

 an adult. 



Mr. Millais informs us that when this species is assuming 

 its breeding dress it becomes exceedingly wild, and it was 

 several years before he himself could obtain them in that 

 plumage. 



Obs. In Mr. Salmon's Diary of a visit to Orkney, under 

 date of June 12th and 13th, 1831, we find the following note: 



" We found a nest which we have every reason to believe belongs to 

 the Smew (Mergus albellus) ; it was close to a small loch in the parish 

 of Burness (island of Sanday). We put the female off her eggs and 

 after flying round two or three times, she alighted in the loch, and 

 although we could not get near enough to shoot her, yet we could dis- 

 tinctly perceive that it was what is figured by Bewick under the name 

 of the Lough Diver or female Smew by the formation of its bill. The 

 nest contained eleven eggs, rather larger than those of the Teal (Anas 

 crecca), but very similar as to shape, the colour quite white. It (the 

 nest) was composed of moss and lined with feathers and down." 



M 



