486 Anatidce. 



numbers and is pronounced palatable, it has proved a welcome 

 addition to the food of Arctic voyagers from the days of Parry, 

 Sabine, and Ross to those of Markham, Nordenskiold, and Greely. 

 In France it is Canard a Tete grise ; and in Germany, Brand- 

 ente. 



195. COMMON SCOTER (Oidemia nigra). 



The specific name, nigra, sufficiently describes the appearance 

 of this bird, whose plumage may be shortly defined as deep-black 

 in the male and brownish- black in the female : hence it is 

 generally known to the fishermen as the ' Black Duck/ and in 

 Sweden as the ' Sea Blackcock ' Sjo Orre. It may easily be 

 distinguished, even at a distance, by its rich, velvety black 

 plumage and orange knob at the base of the bill, and from its 

 congeners by its small size and the absence of white on the wing 

 and neck. Its regular breeding-places are in the far North, 

 though some remain even on our southern coasts throughout 

 the year ; but in winter it is a very common bird all round our 

 shores, and especially off the eastern counties of England, where 

 the waters are said to be quite black with them. It derives its 

 name oidemia from oiBrjpa, a ' swelling/ from its tumid bill. Its 

 flesh is so rank and fishy that in Roman Catholic countries it is 

 considered in the light of a fish, and allowed to be eaten on fast 

 days. In France it is Canard macreuse ; and in Germany, Die 

 Trauer-ente, as if ' the duck in mourning dress.' It is a very 

 common bird on the coast, and doubtless visits us in this county 

 occasionally, but the only positive instances I have of its recent 

 occurrence in Wilts are, first, from my kind correspondent, the 

 Rev. George Powell, Rector of Sutton Veney, who met with a 

 specimen on Salisbury Plain in 1849 ; secondly, from Mr. Grant, 

 of Devizes, who reported that one had been shot on the canal 

 near that town by Mr. Greenhill, of Rowde, at the end of 1871 ; 

 thirdly, from the Marlborough College Natural History Reports, 

 which state that one was caught in the town of Marlborough, 

 and a second seen at the same time in February, 1873. More- 

 over, Yarrell mentions that though seldom found on fresh water 



