645 



had a good sight of them as they were apparently busy feeding on the young mussels that occur 

 in some abundance outside the rocks on the north of St. Andrews. I could only count six birds 

 this time ; but, as they were diving and remaining a considerable time under the water, there may 

 have been more of them. From their general appearance, and the view I then had of the dark 

 colour of the backs of the males, I felt absolutely certain they were King Ducks. Although I 

 continued to see these Ducks occasionally (or at any rate what, from the distance, I took for 

 them) until the end of the first week in April, they were, with one exception, always so far out 

 at sea that it was impossible to make any thing of them. This was the mouth of the Eden, where 

 I came upon them somewhat unexpectedly as they were quietly swimming about amongst a 

 number of Eiders, with which they were evidently associating in the most friendly manner. I 

 could only, of course, be sure of the identity of the males. The females of the King and Eider 

 Duck seem to me to resemble each other so closely that I should say it would be next to 

 impossible to distinguish the one from the other when seen at a distance. About the middle of 

 April I heard that one or two King Ducks had been shot in the Tay ; but beyond that I could 

 neither see nor learn any thing of these birds or their whereabouts, and ultimately concluded that 

 they had gone off. In this, however, 1 was mistaken ; for on the 29th April a fine male, in 

 splendid adult plumage, was killed in the estuary of the Tay. The bird is in my possession, and 

 was examined by me while in the flesh. Mr. Patrick Henderson, Dundee, who also saw these 

 Ducks in the Tay last spring, has kindly informed me that other three specimens were killed in 

 the estuary of that river in March last. All these birds were seen and examined by himself. He 

 states that they were all females, but that he was once within thirty yards of a fine male, but 

 could not procure it. One of the above-mentioned Ducks was shot by Mr. Ross, another by 

 Captain Campbell, and a third by Mr. John Nelson, Dundee, to whose kindness I am indebted 

 not only for sending the particulars of the case, but for forwarding the bird itself for my inspec- 

 tion. He says that on the 16th of March last he was in a boat on the river, about three miles 

 below Tayport, and shot it while it was flying past him, at a distance of about seventy yards, 

 going up the water." 



It occurs very sparingly on the coasts of England. Mr. Hancock says that one which was 

 shot near the Farn Islands on the 14th November, 1873, is in the possession of F. Raine, Esq., 

 of Durham; but one that was recorded (Zool. 1851, p. 3036) as having been obtained at 

 Bedlington, in Northumberland, in 1846, was, he finds, really shot at Bridlington Quay, York- 

 shire, and not in Northumberland. He further adds that a pair were seen in the neighbourhood 

 of the Fain Islands during the summer of 1873. One was shot at Breydon Harbour, Norfolk, 

 on the 25th July, 1813, and one at Aldborough, in Suffolk, in 1827; but it is questionable as to 

 whether one recorded as having been obtained at Lowestoft in January 1854 was really a King 

 Eider. The last specimen I find recorded as having been obtained in England is one purchased 

 by Mr. J. H. Gurney in Leadenhall market in November 1870. 



According to Thompson several examples have been obtained in Ireland, the following being 

 the occurrences enumerated by him, viz. : — one shot at Kingstown Harbour, near Dublin, on the 

 1st October, 1837; one from Derrynane, in the winter of 1843, and one from Tralee Bay, in that 

 of 1845-46, in the possession of Mr. R. Chute; and one, a female, shot in Belfast Bay on the 

 11th of March, 1850, was examined by Mr. Thompson in the flesh. 



