380 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



THE KING DUCK. 



SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS. 



UPWARDS of fifty years ago, Mr Bullock communicated to Col. 

 Montagu, the author of a ' Dictionary of British Birds/ that he 

 had found a nest of this rare bird containing six eggs, in Papa 

 Westray, one of the Orkney islands. In that district the species 

 is now but very rarely seen only one specimen being mentioned 

 by Messrs Baikie and Heddle in their little work on the Natural 

 History of Orkney. It was obtained in one of the islands of that 

 group, and exhibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society of 

 London by Mr Gould, in November, 1832; but a manuscript note 

 by one of the authors states that the species had been found by 

 Mr Dunn in Shetland. Mr St. John, in his 'Tour in Sutherland- 

 shire,' (vol. i., p. 1 40) remarks that the King Duck is seen at the 

 entrance of the Kyle of Tongue, but only rarely. The late Dr 

 Nelson of Pitcox, East Lothian, informed me that he saw one in 

 the winter of 1847 at the mouth of the river Tyne in that county, 

 and that he was quite sure of the species. I have also been 

 informed by E. S. Hargitt, Esq. of London, that he shot a female 

 King Duck in Orkney in May, 1868. 



These records, it must be confessed, are somewhat imperfect, but 

 the species, being strictly oceanic in its habits, may occur much 

 more frequently off our coasts than has been supposed. It rests 

 indeed with some hardy ornithologist to give his fellows a better 

 idea of what is really to be met with at sea, within the prescribed 

 limits, than has yet been advanced. 



According to northern voyagers, the King Duck is very common 

 in the Arctic seas, resorting in vast numbers annually to the shores 

 and islands of these regions during the breeding season; and it is 

 not unreasonable to suppose that at the breaking up of these 

 numerous families, small flocks may take their course to Britain, 

 especially when it is known that they gather into flocks, and feed 

 together at very great distances from land after they have left 

 their breeding quarters. Eegarding its value in an economic 

 sense, Sir James C. Koss has stated that the crews of Arctic ships 

 have on many occasions used the King Duck as food in considerable 

 quantities; and a friend of the late Mr Thompson did not scruple 

 to use a few baked in pies when nothing better could be had. 



