248 



BIRDS. 



King Eiders nested on the White Loch, but as that appeared in a 

 scientific journal and may again be quoted, I think it better to 

 mention it here, lest more King Eiders or Eiders be put forward 

 — whether shot in summer or winter — in summer plumage ! 



Millais quite agrees with my using care here, as none of these 

 specimens which have been reported seem now to be in existence, 

 except the one above noted. The best evidence of occurrences pre- 

 cludes me from actually using brackets for the species. 



CEdemia nigra (L.). Common Scoter. 



Common in large flocks off the coast, especially in St. Andrews Bay, 

 mouth of Eden, and off the Tay, as well as further up the coast, 

 where they are at times caught in the salmon nets off the Kincardine- 

 shire shore. 



Rarely found at any inland localities, but exceptions have been 

 known of later years. Thus an adult male was got at Ballinluig on 

 Tay, and came into the possession of Mr. R. W. Clarke. Also the late 

 Rev. H. A. Macpherson told me in lit. that "Macintyre, who collected 

 eggs for Col. Campbell, of Perth, assured me that he had seen the 

 Common Scoter on a loch in Rannoch." Mr. Macpherson adds : " He 

 may have been mistaken in the time of j^ear — May, but he knows the 

 bird." I have no indication of its actually having nested within the 

 area. And I know of only one loch very far inland where it would 

 be likely to find very suitable quarters. At all events, at the present 

 date, Tay lies far away from its ascertained breeding stations in the 

 rest of Scotland. 



CEdemia fusca (L.). Velvet Scoter. 



Common on salt water every winter ; and often — or regularly — remain 

 long into and even over the summer. 



I have seen large flocks frequenting St. Andrews Bay, and off the 

 mouth of the Eden, and have heard of them often remaining there all 

 summer, from residents in St. Andrews (vide Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. 

 Glasgow, 1879, p. 184), and I felt curious as to the cause of their doing 

 so. Col. Drummond Hay remarks upon this same habit, and believed 

 that they do so regularly. He has also seen similarly large flocks 

 upon the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (America), and there he 

 believed that the females were nesting on the land adjoining. This, 

 however, will not account for their numbers on this side of the 

 Atlantic. I am more inclined to think that the birds seen on this 



