619 



down each side of the neck dark brown ; throat washed with dull dark brown, and a broad band of 

 blackish brown across the upper breast ; rest of the underparts white. 



Young in winter (Hiddensee) . Differs from the female above described in having the upper parts lighter and 

 duller, the sides of the head whiter, and the breast less marked with brown. 



This Duck inhabits northern latitudes in Europe, Asia, and America, its range being circum- 

 polar. It breeds in the extreme north at inland pieces of water, and near the coast, but in the 

 winter migrates further south, being at that season almost exclusively met with on the sea-coast. 



With us in Great Britain it is a winter visitant, frequenting our coasts in but small numbers 

 on passage during the winter season in the southern portions ; but in Scotland it is tolerably 

 common. It is now and then met with in the south of England. Mr. Cecil Smith informs me 

 that he has seen a good many specimens obtained in South Devon, and possesses one shot in the 

 Exe in November 1866. Mr. J. E. Mansel-Pleydell says that, according to Dr. Pulteney, it visits 

 the coasts of Dorset in hard winters, and has been shot up in the country near St. Giles's, and 

 he was informed by the Rev. J. H. Austen that two were shot at Poole in May 1840. A young 

 male was shot in Portland Roads by the late R. S. Warden in January 1852 ; and Mr. Thompson 

 records a female as killed in Weymouth Backwater in January 1857. On the east coast it is 

 met with regularly during winter, and, Mr. Stevenson informs me, is found both in adult and 

 immature dress, though rare in the former. It has also been obtained in full summer plumage 

 in Norfolk ; for one was shot at Hickling Broad in June, as recorded by Mr. Stevenson (Zool. 

 1856, p. 5160); but those referred to in the 'Zoologist,' 1869, p. 6447, as obtained in fully adult 

 dress, proved subsequently to have been shot off the Scotch coast. Mr. Stevenson further writes 

 to me as follows: — "During sharp weather in November 1868 a flock of about a dozen fre- 

 quented the 'Bay' at Heacham, near Lynn, for some clays, of which five were adult males; and 

 at the turn of the tide they were generally seen swimming about two hundred yards from the 

 shore. The young birds rarely appear on our coast before October, and as rarely leave the sea 

 for any inland water." Mr. Cordeaux says that it visits the Humber district in winter, mature 

 birds being seldom met with. In Scotland, Mr. Robert Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 388), 

 " it is found in the winter season from October till March ; it is very common in the Sound of 

 Harris, in the Outer Hebrides, and is likewise met with in considerable numbers off the coasts 

 of Skye, Mull, and Islay ; but southwards of the last-named islands its occurrence is extremely 

 irregular and uncertain." Dr. Saxby appears to doubt that it has ever been found breeding in 

 Shetland, though Mr. Wolley obtained eggs said by a reliable person to have been taken there, 

 and he himself received eggs stated to have been those of the present species. He writes (B. of 

 Shetl. p. 257) that it arrives in small flocks late in September or early in October, remaining 

 through the winter until the second week in April. According to Thompson it is an occasional 

 and probably a regular winter visitant to the coast of Ireland, but in very limited numbers. 



In Greenland it is, Professor Newton says, " common on the whole coast, and breeds also on 

 the Parry Islands and on the land westward of Davis Strait. In Iceland it breeds numerously ; 

 and Captain Feilden says that it appears in the Fseroes in autumn in large flocks, keeping in the 

 bays and fiords, and remains till March ; some have been seen during the summer, and Miiller 

 thinks they have bred in the islands. Wolley mentions having seen a single male in the end of 



