76 Note on the Velvet Scoter, by Robert Gray. 



both sexes. I formed the impression that perhaps a third of 

 the number might be Common Scoters (Oidemia nigra.) 



Since making these observations I have been favoured by 

 Mr Harvie Brown, with an additional note on the occurrence 

 of these birds throughout the past summer, in St. Andrew's 

 Bay. Writing on 31st July, his friend, Mr Cook, states that 

 the Scoters had been increasing in numbers for about a 

 month, and that there were then, and had been all the sum- 

 mer, four or five hundred in the .bay. He had watched them 

 regularly with a glass every morning, and had seen the flock, 

 which consisted of " one or more species of Scoter, and many 

 scamp ducks," passing repeatedly within a distance of 80 

 yards. Sixty of these ducks had been taken at one haul in 

 the salmon stake nets, but had been all despatched to a dis- 

 tance before Mr Cook heard of the capture. 



A few pairs of the Common Scoter have been known to 

 breed in this country, but I am not aware of a single in- 

 stance of the nesting of the Velvet Scoter. The occurrence 

 during the past summer, therefore, of both species in such 

 numbers is a fact of some interest to ornithologists ; and I 

 shall be glad to hear whether similar observations have 

 been made by members of the Club in other localities. 



ROBERT GRAY. 



13, Inverleith Bow, Edinburgh, 

 25th September, 1876. 



