264, RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
tured,” and another merely says that it is “more rare than 
the Long-tailed Duck.” It may not therefore be labour in 
vain if I proceed to show that Messrs. Yarrell and Gould 
were not alive to its real scarcity, by bringing together the 
various supposed instances of its occurrence, and showing 
how little all of them were worth on investigation; but 
as Professor Newton and Mr. Harting have already been 
over the same ground (Ibis, 1859, p. 165; Hand-book 
of B. B., p. 160), it is not to be expected that I should have 
much new matter to bring forward, and I have not. For 
the sake of expedition, I may as well dismiss the cases 
already disposed of by Professor Newton, and commence 
with 1802, when Mr. Montagu published his “ Ornithological 
Dictionary,” and this Duck was introduced on the authority 
of Mr. James Sowerby, who had received a pair from 
Lord Seaforth. No doubt these are what Mr. Mudie refers 
to when he says (B. B., IL, p. 354) that the Harlequin has 
been seen in Lewis, as I understand that this island was 
Lord Seaforth’s estate. For the following note by the late 
veteran naturalist J. E. Gray, I am indebted to Professor 
Newton :— 
“The Sowerby Museum was in Meade Place, Lambeth, near 
the Orphan Asylum. It became in a bad state from neglect, and 
some specimens were sold privately, and the rest at the auction 
rooms, now Stevens’. I do not know what became of the Duck. 
I think I recollect it in a separate glass case as was then the 
fashion, but rather baddish in condition.” 
The above does not furnish us with much information, 
nor am I more fortunate in regard to Mr. Simmons’ young 
female from Orkney, about which I have nothing fresh to 
impart, though I should say prima facte that its being a 
young female is against it, for as will be seen in the sequel, 
the young of this species and the young of the Long-tailed 
Duck have been several times confounded. It is not very 
