438 



ROUEN DUCK. 



ROTCH {Mergulus melanoleucus ■> Ray.) 



Uria Alle, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 2. p. 928.— Alca Alle, Linn. Syst. l.p. 211. 5.— 

 Gmel, Syst. 2. p. 554. — Mergulus melanoleucus rostro acuto brevi, Raii, Syn. p. 

 125. A. 5 — Will. p. 261. t. 59.— Small Black and White Diver, Will. (Angl.) 

 p. 343.— Edw. t. 91.— Greenland Dove, Albin, 1. t. 85.— Le petit Guillemot, 



Buff. Ois. 9. p. 354.— Little Auk, Br. Zool. 2. No. 233. t. 82 lb. fol. 137. t. 



K. 4. f. 1.— Arct. Zool. 2. t. 429.— Lath. Syn. 5. p. 327. 2. — lb. Ind. Orn. 2. 



p. 795. 10— Lewin's Br. Birds, 6. t. 223.— Wale. Syn. 1. t. 88 Pult. Cat. 



Dorset, p. 17.— Uria minor, Briss. 6. p. 73. 2 lb. 8vo. 11. p. 378 Sea 



Turtle, Bewick's Br. Birds. 



Provincial. — Rochie or Ratch. 



* The birds of this species that visit Great Britain in the autumnal and 

 winter months, most certainly come from the more northern parts of 

 Europe, and very few, if any, breed with us, except in the northern 

 parts of Scotland. They come from the frozen shores of Greenland 

 and Spitzbergen, but remain contended where they can obtain food from 

 the liquid element, and consequently few migrate so far as the southern 

 parts of England. 



Three specimens have come under examination that were taken in 

 the south of England in the winter ; one on the 4th of December, in 

 the year 1804, another on the 25th of November, 1805, and the third 

 on the 17th of January, 1806. These were dissected in order to dis- 

 cover the sex, with a view to ascertain if there was any sexual dif- 

 ference in the plumage, it having- been said that the throat of the male 

 was black. The first of these proved to be a male, the description 

 of which is as follows : — 



Length eig-ht inches and a half ; upper part of the head black, taking- 

 in the eyes, which are whitish ; the sides of the head are white, which 

 runs backward and forms a narrow band across the nape, sprinkled with 

 dusky, but immediately above the eye is a small white spot ; the whole 

 under parts white ; the chin and fore-part of the neck speckled dusky ; 

 the intermediate part, or throat, pure white ; scapulars with four or 

 five white streaks, or marks, disposed in longitudinal lines ; the thighs 

 are mixed with a few black feathers ; the upper parts of the plumage 

 are of the usual black colour, and the secondary quills tipped with 

 white ; legs and feet dusky. 



The Rotch has sometimes been found dead very remote from the 

 sea. The Rev. Mr. Dalton, of Copgrove, near Knaresboroug-h, in 

 Yorkshire, assures us that both this and the petrel have been found 

 near his house. Whether these were driven by storms, or attempted to 

 cross the land from one sea to the other, is difficult to determine.* 



ROTHERMUCK.— A name for the Bernacle Goose. 



ROUEN DUCK. — A variety of the common duck, {Anas boschas,) 



