The Surf-Scoter 79 
of 1905, and was not killed, as Mr. Robinson informs me. In other places in Scotland three 
have been obtained, only one of these being taken in Western Hebrides (recorded by Gray). 
It was killed in 1865 at Holm, near Stornoway, and is now in the museum at Stornoway 
Castle. There are eleven occurrences of the species in England (see Harting, Howard 
Ssiunders, J^resser, 2ind Hand-lis^ of Brif. Birds, p. 146). In Ireland it is also a rare and 
accidental visitor, and six specimens are recorded (Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, 
p. 216) from CO. Down, Dublin, Cork, and Mayo, three times. Of the two last specimens 
Mr. Warren gives the following interesting account : 
" The fifth specimen obtained was an adult female I shot on December 19, 1896. It was one of 
a pair I observed in the Moyne Channel, near Killala, co. Mayo. I first took them to be Common 
Scoters, but as they flew past, remarking the white marks on the head of the male, I immediately 
recognised them to be Surf-Scoters. After they pitched on the water I set my punt up to them, and 
firing my big gun, killed the female and winged the male, which I followed, and fired several shots from 
my cripple stopper without effect, the bird escaping owing to his expertness in diving and ducking the 
flash. On January 16 following, when down Wigeon shooting, I met the wounded bird in the channel 
near where I had killed his companion, and although I fired my big gun at him, and three shots from 
my shoulder gun, he again escaped by ducking the flash. Having failed in securing such a prize by 
myself, I arranged with Mr. A. C. Kirkwood, of Bartragh, to come with me on the following Monday, 
the 1 8th, bringing his punt and gun, and assist in the capture. Going down the channel we saw nothing 
of the bird until the junction with the bay was reached, and there, on the side of the bank, we saw the bird 
resting close to the water, and Mr. Kirkwood, paddling up, easily came within range, and firing, knocked 
him over with a charge of No. 6 shot from his 4-bore, thus securing the sixth specimen of the Surf- 
Scoter captured in Ireland. The two last-named specimens are now in the Dublin Museum." 
No Specimen has as yet occurred in Wales. 
On the Continent the following occurrences have been recorded : Norway, September 
23, 1893 (Cf. Orn. Jahrbuch, 1895, p. 246). Sweden twice (Karesuando, 1833, and Kalmar, 
o 
1846). Finland (Kittila 1858, on Aland 1866, and Pojo 1867). {Cf. Westerlund, Skandin- 
aviska Foglames, p. 177). (In Ootheca IVolleyana, ii. p. 579, one is recorded from Kyro in 
1858, evidently the same as that mentioned above as from Kittila). One specimen killed on 
Heligoland in the Gatke collection. 
France. — Many obtained on various occasions along the north coast of France (Saunders, 
Mammal, p. 470 ; Paris, Cat. des Ois. de la France, p. 50). 
FcErdes. — One occurrence in 1853, a pair also seen (cf. ZooL, 1872, p. 3255: H. C. 
Muller). 
Belgium. — Said to have occurred. 
Asia. — Obtained on several occasions in the Chukchi Peninsula (S. A. Buturlin, 
quoted by Dresser). Met with apparently breeding on shores of Bering Sea, and, according 
to Palmen, in extreme north-east of Siberia. 
Habits. — In general appearance the Surf-Scoter somewhat resembles the Common 
Scoter at a distance, but can generally be distinguished by the patches of white on the 
crown and back of the neck. It is only at shorter range that the peculiar form and 
colouring of the bill becomes a point of identification. Although the bird may be more 
closely allied to the Common than the Velvet, it may be observed that where it comes as an 
accidental visitor, it nearly always associates with the Velvet-Scoter. In fact, James 
Sutherland, my old boatman in Orkney, with whom I had many adventures in search of a 
