THE SUKF SCOTEll. 



119 



could not have known the kind of food which it procured on our 

 coast, or the form of its trachea. Tlie contents of the stomach, 

 preserved for my inspection, consisted of ten perfect specimens of 

 the bivalve shell, Nuciila viargarttacea, from small to adult size, 

 and a portion of the shell of a very large Solen ^^eUucidus, with 

 fragments of the shells of other species. The bay where this bird 

 was shot, is of a sandy nature, such as Wilson remarks to be 

 frequented by the surf scoter on the coast of North America. 

 ' Spoutfish [_Solen] and small bivalve shell-fish,^ according to 

 him, are its principal food ; — one of the only moUusca that he 

 particularizes was therefore found in the present individual. As 

 the species of Nttcula mentioned is generally dredged in from 

 three to five fathoms (18-30 feet) water in Ballyholme Bay, we 

 must suppose that the bird dived to that depth to obtain these 

 shell-fish — a supposition in accordance with Audubon^s remark, 

 that this duck ^is frequently observed fishing at the depth of 

 several fathoms.' 



" AU the general descriptions of the colours of the surf scoter 

 sufficiently mark the species, but none that I have read gave me 

 a proper idea of the beauty of the head and biU — more especially 

 of the latter, — as exhibited in this bird. Its entire plumage is of 

 a rich black colour, with a reddish violet reflection, excepting the 

 pure white marking in front of the head between the eyes, and 

 that of the same colour extending down the nape. The former 

 is heart-shaped, 1^ inch in length, and the same in breadth; the 

 latter occupies 2|- inches in length, is 10 lines in breadth at the 

 top, and gradually narrows downwards to a point. The irides 

 are pure white. A peculiar and handsome feature is presented 

 in the plumage advancing so far down the ridge of the bill as to 

 be half-way between its lateral base and the tip, and in a vertical 

 line with the nostrils. The whole of the elevated portion of the 

 upper mandible next the frontal base is of a carmine-red, shading 

 into rich yellowish-orange, which occupies the portion from the 

 nostrils forward to the unguis, tliis being of a paler shade of the 

 latter colour. The anterior half of the space between tlie nostrils 

 and the lateral base of the bill arc white, of a pearly lustre ; the 



