THE SURF-SCOTER. 

 CEdemia perspicillata, Linnaeus. 

 Plate 51. 



A rare winter visitor to the British Islands, this American species has been 

 more frequently obtained and seen off our western coasts than elsewhere, except 

 in the Orkneys, where, according to Millais, no less than six specimens have been 

 obtained. The Surf-Scoter inhabits North America, breeding in the arctic portions 

 of that region, and migrating in winter as far south as the coasts of Lower 

 California and Florida, in which season it also occasionally visits the Bermudas 

 and Jamaica. 



The late H. E. Dresser, in his Birds of Europe, quoting a communication re- 

 ceived by him from Dr. Brewer, regarding the breeding haunts of this species, 

 says, " The nest was snugly placed amid the tall leaves of a bunch of grass, and 

 raised fully four inches above its roots. It was entirely composed of withered 

 and rotted weeds, the former being circularly arranged over the latter, producing 

 a well-rounded cavity six inches in diameter by two and a half in depth. The 

 borders of this inner cup were lined with the down of the bird, in the same 

 manner as the Eider Duck's nest ; and in it lay five eggs, the smallest number 

 I have ever found in any duck's nest, ... of a uniform pale yellowish or cream- 

 colour." Howard Saunders gives the number of eggs as from six to eight. 



The food, like that of the other members of the genus, consists chiefly of shell- 

 fish, obtained by diving to a considerable depth, the bird being quite at its ease 

 among the roughest water. 



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