EIDER DUCK COMMON SCOTER. 
241 
1 stopped them all, though got but one, as the other two 
beat me in a sea." From his " Diary " we find that the 
exact date was January i ith. 
Bury mentions specimens obtained about the same 
time, and More gives the dates of February, 1855, and 
December, 1859. 
The specimens in the Hart collection were obtained on 
December 5th, 1870, and February 6th, 1884, and Mr. 
Pearce and Dr. Arnold have recorded occurrences on our 
south-eastern coast. 
Dr. Cowper says ^ that it only occurs in the most severe 
and protracted winters. 
185. QLdemia nigra. Common Scoter. 
An abundant visitor to the coast during the winter, 
rarely straying inland. 
Mr. Meade-Waldo says 2 — " A certain number of non- 
breeding birds may be seen throughout the summer." 
In Hawker's time they cannot have been as plentiful as 
in the present day, for in his " Diary " on January 28th, 1829, 
he writes : — " Saw two scoter ducks, birds I never met with 
before, except stuffed in museums, blew off a cartridge and 
floored them both ; and had a chase of more than an hour 
before we could get near enough to finish, with a detonating 
musket, one of them which was winged, though I had three 
boats with me." 
' "Hants Court Guide." 
* *' Victoria History of Hants." 
