this species, Mr. H. Saunders has stated that I found 

 the Velvet Scoter in the locality last named during May 

 1876. The birds of this genus seen there at that 

 season by us were Common Scoters, (Edemia nigra. I 

 observed a pair of Velvet Scoters at a very short distance 

 from our vessel, amidst hundreds of Wigeon, near the 

 mouth of the Rhone in the winter of 1874, but this 

 is, in my experience, very rare in the Mediterranean. 

 I noticed that the small parties of Velvet Scoters in the 

 harbour of Santander generally kept aloof from the 

 Common Scoters, which were in much greater numbers ; 

 the present species was by far the more wary of the two. 

 The food of this bird consists chiefly, if not entirely, 

 of small marine animals, at least we could not find any 

 trace of vegetable matter in the stomachs of those that 

 we examined ; I do not, however, consider the present 

 species as such an adept and enduring diver as the 

 Common Scoter. In Europe, we are told that this bird 

 in the summer frequents the lakes of Scandinavia and 

 Northern Russia. 



