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AN AT ID /E. 
seen together on very small sheets of water.* They are called 
white-sided divers there, and considered very bad for the table ; — 
being sold as wigeon, they bring this excellent bird into bad re- 
pute.*}* Tufted ducks are sent in quantity from various inland 
localities to Dublin market, and have been obtained about Clon- 
mel. X Along the eastern coast in particular, they are numerous ; 
two hundred having been seen in company in Carlingford Bay ; 
in the bays of Drogheda and Dublin, and in Wexford harbour, § 
they are common; are obtained in the harbours of Waterford 
and Cork, and on other parts of the coast, but apparently become 
more rare westward. In Kerry, the tufted duck was unknown 
to Mr. T. E. Neligan in 1837 ; and but one bird obtained there 
— (at Bossbegh, Dingle Bay) — had been seen by Mr. B. Chute 
until December 1849. It is common on lakes in Mayo.|| Its 
scarcity in the south-west of Ireland accords with what we find to 
be the case in the south-west of England. The Bev. George 
Bobinson informs me that, during four years* residence at Ply- 
mouth, he never saw one either in the market or in a wild 
state, but that he had known of two or three having been killed 
there within that time. Its frequency in Dublin, where he resided 
for the three following years, was therefore quite striking, as the 
tufted duck is very commonly brought to the market there during 
winter. In Couch's f Cornish Eauna/ this species is set down as 
“ scarce;" but in the south-east of England, as in the same part 
of Ireland, it is common, being “ almost as abundant as the 
scaup" in Sussex.^ 
It is said to visit Orkney every winter, but does not appear in 
Mr. St. John's list of the f Birds of Sutherland/ During the 
month of January 1849, I remarked a few of these birds (some 
* Rev. Geo. Robinson. 
f Mr. Yarrell, on the contrary, remarks that, unlike the scaup, “ its flesh is 
generally excellent, so much so, that from its goodness this bird is sometimes called 
the black wigeon.” 
X Mr. R. Davis, jun., who has also procured the species from Dungarvan, on the 
coast of Waterford. 
§ Called gold-eye duck, here, by the shooters (J. Poole). 
|| Mr. R. J. Montgomery. ^ Knox, £ Birds of Sussex.’ 
