﻿SURF SCOTER 127 



iVA TA TORES, A NA T1D/E. 



PLATE CCLVI. 



SURF SCOTER. 



OIDEMIA PERSPICILLATA. 



The Surf Scoter is a rare occasional visitant on the 

 shores of the Orkney and Shetland Isles, its visits to those 

 islands constituting the only claim it possesses of being 

 ranked among British Birds. Its principal natural residence 

 is in the high northern latitudes of the American continent. 

 During the winter season this bird descends as far south, 

 along Hudson's and Baffin's Bays, as Florida. The 

 locality mostly frequented is the sea, and in consequence of 

 its partiality to the heaviest surf, in which it floats with the 

 most determined ease, it has obtained its trivial name. Its 

 southern migration in America extends along the waters of 

 the Mississippi and Missouri, and it is consequently not 

 exclusively an inhabitant of the sea. 



The only localities known to be frequented by these 

 birds in Europe are the above-named isles, the coasts of 

 Norway and Sweden, and, in one instance, the Rhine, an 

 individual having been found on that river, which proved 

 to be a female. 



VOL. VI. M 



