670 



front of the eye, and another behind chin, brownish white ; rest of the plumage generally dark brown, 

 the upper parts rather darker than the underparts, the feathers having narrow light brown margins ; 

 bill less swollen than in the male, leaden-blackish in colour ; iris greyish ; legs warm olivaceous. 



Young Male (Point Lepreaux). Lower part of the back and entire wings deep brown; abdomen marked 

 with white, the central portion white, merely marked with blackish brown ; sides tinged with brown; 

 rest of the plumage as in the old male; but the white patch on the crown is wanting, and that on the 

 hind neck is smaller ; legs duller ; bill duller in colour, and less swollen than in the old male. 



Inhabiting the northern portion of the Nearctic Region, the Surf-Scoter has only been met with 

 in Europe as a rare straggler. Yarrell (Brit. B. 3rd ed. iii. pp. 324, 325) cites five instances of 

 its occurrence, viz. : — one specimen from the Firth of Forth, in the possession of Mr. Gould ; one, 

 Musselburgh Bay, Firth of Forth, 1852 (these two records possibly refer to the same specimen) ; 

 one near Weymouth, in Dorsetshire, in the winter of 1851, and a second iu the winter of 1853 ; 

 and one recently killed specimen sent to Mr. Bartlett for preservation, no locality being given, as 

 recorded in the ' Naturalist,' vol. iii. p. 420. Besides these there are several other occurrences 

 on record. Mr. Robert Gray (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 383) writes as follows : — " The only specimen 

 of this unmistakable species which I have seen in the west of Scotland is one now in the collection 

 of Sir James Matheson, Baronet, of Lewis ; it was shot in the winter of 1865 at Holm, near 

 Stornoway, by Mr. Macgillivray, of Stornoway. The species is included in a list of Caithness 

 birds by Mr. E. S. Sinclair, of Wick ; but neither date nor locality is given. An adult male was 

 shot at Swanbister, parish of Orphir, in Orkney, in March 1866, as I have been obligingly 

 informed by Mr. J. H. Dunn ; and in June 1847 the same gentleman states that in one of his 

 boating excursions after other birds in Rona's Voe, Shetland, he saw an adult male of this 

 species several times, but was unable to procure it." Messrs. Baikie and Heddle's statement 

 that " small flocks are seen in our sounds every winter " is an obvious mistake. Mr. J. E. Harting 

 says that Mr. E. Hargitt possesses a specimen killed on the Aberdeen coast in November 1855 ; 

 but in answer to a letter inquiring about this specimen the latter gentleman writes to me saying 

 that he purchased the specimen in question from Mr. Small, naturalist, of Edinburgh, who 

 received it from a man in the north of Scotland, and understood it to be British-killed ; but on 

 inquiry it was elicited that this person did not shoot it, but " purchased it with a lot of other 

 birds." Altogether the evidence respecting this specimen is so incomplete that it cannot well 

 be included as a British-killed specimen. There is a specimen, however, of this Duck in the 

 collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, which was obtained at Crofton, Cumberland, in August 1856. 

 According to Mr. Rodd (Zool. 1865, p. 9794) one was obtained at Scilly in September 1865, and 

 another (Zool. 1867, p. 1017) at the same place in October 1867. Mr. T. M. Pike informs me 

 that in February 1875, in the sound between Cava and Rysay Little, two of the Orkneys, he got 

 close to a Surf-Scoter, which was swimming with three Velvet Scoters, and fired at it, as it rose, 

 at a distance of not more than 25 yards ; but it dived, came up astern of the boat, and flew off as 

 if uninjured. The second specimen, Mr. Pike writes, "I met with exactly a year later, at the 

 same place. This time I took the precaution of towing down a gunning punt from Stromness 

 with a punt-gun, which carried a pound of shot. I saw a beautiful adult drake in company with 

 a lot of Velvet Scoters, and worked the punt up within range. He parted from the rest ; and 



