674 The Zoologist— April, 18G7. 



independent of the tide. Mallard and widgeon are plentiful, but far 

 wilder than the geese : they resort principally to Udel Bay, 

 not appearing to find food on the "fiats" frequented by the 

 geese. 



Longtailed Duck. — I met with a small flock of this beautiful duck 

 at Ballintore, a village on the east coast, some eight miles from 

 Cromarty, and a few days afterwards found three or four pairs in a 

 sheltered little bay under the steep cliffs of the North " Suter." They 

 were driving almost in the surf, so close were they to the rocks. With 

 the rocks and steep hill covered with snow down to the very edge of 

 the surf, and the enormous icicles, scores of feet in length, which 

 hung from the dark cliff, they might well have imagined themselves 

 in their accustomed arctic haunts. I shot a beautiful male in the 

 water, the rest of the flock taking flight ; a female, however, dropped 

 winged to the gun of a friend in the boat. They dive very expertly, 

 as we wasted several barrels before we procured our wounded bird. 

 These birds, I hear, frequent the Firth every winter during hard weather, 

 the inhabitants being quite familiar with them and calling them 

 " Kamleck's." The male was smaller than the bird described by 

 Yarrell, and the part of the beak intermediate between the base and 

 the nail was a delicate pink. Yarrell gives it pale reddish brown : in 

 other respects my specimen corresponded entirely with the description 

 given by him. 



Pochard. — I came on a male pochard one evening sitting on the 

 rocks, he scuttled down some distance into the water upon my making 

 my appearance round a corner, and I then shot him. Pochards are 

 not so plentiful as other oceanic clucks in the Firth, but I several 

 times met with them near the rocks off the " Suters." 



Goldcncye and Scaup Duck. — Both in small numbers about the 

 rocks at the entrance and on the water in the Firth, the goldeneye the 

 most plentiful of the two. They were very shy, seldom allowing the 

 boat to get within shot ; but they often flew near us, when on the wing. 

 Nearly all the goldeneyes I met with were females, and these associated 

 together in small flocks up to a dozen in number. They are extremely 

 lively and expert in the water, the whole flock sometimes diving 

 instantaneously together. I found a male scaup one day sitting on a 

 large piece of ice in the midst of a large " pack." He had evidently 

 alighted on the ice, for he was in rather a predicament, unable to 

 reach the water, and unable, I believe, to rise from the ice, probably 

 on account of the position of the legs and the short wings. I do not 



