671 



after watching him a bit, I gave him the contents of the big gun, which, tough and hard to kill 

 as these birds are, proved too much for him. I sent it down to Christchurch to be stuffed ; and 

 you may have seen in the newspapers at that time an account of one killed there, which is an 

 error; for the specimen referred to was my bird. There is a specimen in the Museum at 

 Stromness in a miserable condition ; but there is no evidence to show whence it came, though 

 Mr. Dunn told me that all the birds in that collection were local specimens." In Ireland it has, 

 according to Thompson, been once obtained ; for he writes (B. of Ireland, iii. p. 118) as follows : — 

 "A beautiful adult male of this species was shot at Ballyholme, Belfast Bay, on the 9th of 

 September, 1846, by Snowden Corken, Esq. It was alone, about two hundred yards from the 

 shore, allowed three shots to be fired at it before attempting to dive, and was killed at the 

 fourth or fifth shot, on reaching the surface after having dived. Two of these birds had, a day 

 or two before, been observed in company in the same locality ; and one individual was seen several 

 times in the course of a few weeks after the subject of this notice had been killed." 



On the continent of Europe it has occurred on several occasions as a rare straggler. Pro- 

 fessor Newton informs me that Mr. Wolley obtained one in Lapland ; but he cannot now furnish 

 particulars of date or locality. Malm says that it occurs, though very rarely, in Enare-Lapland ; 

 and, according to Mr. Knoblock, of Muonioniska, one was shot in the summer of 1858 near 

 the village of Kyro, in the Kittila parish. Nilsson says that in 1833 a specimen was killed at 

 Karesuando by the Rev. L. L. Lsestadius and sent to the Stockholm Museum, and that a second 

 example, also sent to the same museum, was killed at Calmar, on the 14th June 1846, by a pilot 



o 



called Wirsen. Dr. Palmen says that a male was shot on Aland in 1866, and sent to Helsingfors 

 stuffed as a decoy; a second male was killed in May 1867 at Pojo, in Western Nyland, and 

 sent in the same way to Helsingfors, both specimens being now in the museum of that town. 



o 



Professor Malmgren informs me that there was a third example from Aland, but that it was 

 destroyed. Naumann includes it, with doubt, as a German bird, and states that a female is 

 said to have been killed on the Rhine, but adds that possibly a mistake may have been 

 made in the determination of the specimen. Mr. J. Collin says that there is a specimen in the 

 Copenhagen Museum, which was sent from the Fseroes, in the autumn of 1853, by Mr. H. C. 

 Miiller, who some years previously saw a pair on Sudero. According to Professor Blasius 

 (J. f. O. 1871, p. 213) it has occurred on Heligoland; but it is not included in Mr. Cordeaux's 

 list of the birds which have been obtained there. It is stated to occur accidentally on the coast 

 of Flanders during severe winters ; and Messrs. Degland and Gerbe state that it occurs on the 

 sea-coasts of Artois, Picardy, and Normandy. An immature bird was killed near Calais in the 

 winter of 1835 ; and a second was exposed for sale in the Caen market at the same season. 

 Specimens are not unfrequently sent up to Paris ; and Messrs. Degland and Gerbe add that they 

 saw in 1845, 1846, 1852, and 1864 four or five individuals which had been obtained in the 

 winter season. 



The true home, however, of this Scoter is the Nearctic Region ; and it is common both on 

 the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, breeding far north in the Arctic regions. Dr. T. M. Brewer 

 writes to me respecting its occurrence in America as follows: — " The Surf-Duck, so abundant 

 both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America, is known to our gunners and fisher- 

 men as the Skunk-billed Coot, and by some is called the Hollow-billed Coot, " coot " being a 



