RARKR BRITISH BIRDS. 



SURF DUCK. 



Oidemia Perspidllata. LINNAEUS. 



FEW are the specimens of this bird which have been obtained 

 on the British coasts ; it has, however, been occasionally found 

 in the Orkney and Shetland Isles. 



The Surf Duck is one of those North American and Arctic 

 species which we now and then find driven, probably by stress 

 of weather, from their true line of migration. Wilson, the 

 American ornithologist, says, that they are altogether confined 

 to the shores and bays of the sea, particularly where the waves 

 roll over the sandy beach. Their food consists chiefly of small 

 bivalve shells, spout fish, and others, that lie in the sand near 

 the surface, for which they dive constantly, both in the sandy 

 M 



