take a wider range than those of greater experience. These
ducks are most frequently found on the coast, not far from
land, in sheltered bays, or -estuaries; but have been occasionally
taken in inland counties. Mr. W. Borrer, Jun. sent
me notice of an adult male killed in Huntingdonshire, in
January 1838. This species has been killed a few times o n .
the south coast of Devonshire; and Charles Prideaux, Esq.
who resides near Kingsbridge, sent me a notice with a coloured
drawing of a young bird killed in the estuary at Kingsbridge,
late in December last. This bird has .also been killed
on the; coast of Dorsetshire. I have more than pnce^oktained
young birds in their first winter in the London markets .at a
low price, being sometimes, unknown, and not at that "age
attractive in colour. I t is considered a rare bird, but has
been killed on the coasts of Kent, Essex, -Suffolk, and Norfolk.
Of this bird, on the other side of the Channel, M. Tem-
minck says, that it appears rather often on the coast <ff|Hql-(
land, and occasionally visits the large lakes of Germany. . M.
VieOlQt says that it is rare on the coast of .France. According
to M. Schinz it has .been obtained two or three tirnes.;qn
the large lakes of Switzerland. A young bird has been taken
at Naples ; and -in November 1824, a young bird was taken
near Pisa; this species is, therefore^ ineluded by M. Savi, in
his Birds of Italy.
To return to our own -country, Mr. Selby notices the Longtailed
Duck as a winter visitant to the shores of Durham and
Northumberland; Mr. Heysham has-obtained it'on'the'wesf
coast of Cumberland; and Mr. W. Thompson mentions
having procured specimens four winters“ in succession from
Belfast Bay.
Mr. Robert Dunn, in his. useful little book;^ says|* “ this
species, which is there called ‘ Calloo,’ is very pleritifukboth
in Orkney and Shetland, arriving about the. middle of
October, and departing again in March." It is to be met
with in all the inlets o*>, vries, generally in large flocks, never
far from thë land, feeding upon small shell-fish and star-fish.
When on the wing it utters a musical cry, something like
'‘•calloo,»which mayiBe 'heard' to a great1 distance' ; from this
cry:if- derives atsr provincial name,’’
The Long-tailëd Duck is well known in: Denmark, and
among its' mimetpusi isldrids.v Mr..Wv Ç. Hewitsön, in hîs
{WopkJ&^|he jg&gfs** of .our British, Birds, says, “ we met with
■raa.riy:■whilst, in Noywayfl and although those which we ! shot
and- ■ drissected ■ had every, app'earaned. o 1 being shortly about to
breed,-ÿët they were always? ;M.sfiofcks^ roving from place: to
plice, ^ n d : apparency unâftaêhedî*tto’,any particular .spot ;
nome'tim|s^ sweeping;’past; within. a few yards of. ùs, .with
great »rapidity, uttering their strikingly-wild ' and most *inte-
Éfistlng .crièf. ■ Sèyerah'-'eggsîdfr this bird were" brought home
-by the officers Ofritle'^rctic, expéditions : for .the one figured
I am, indebted^" to the liberality of irmy«'fri>efid| .Mr. Gr. C.
Atkinson,'who; during an excursion, in Iceland, had the good
fdrtune, t.ô fpêtfwith a pest 4&jthe Long-tailed Duck ; It was
placed fnear the inargin of a small' lake, and .lined with the
downMlmffemaP; the eggs were six fill number, but would
most probably have been' iflcréasfed fd^tén. or twelve, the
usual number of this :tnbeT)^6irds.,,,' Mr. Procter, who also
visited Iceland, ajplfc me word that'thfe'found this Duck: rather
common 'thjÉfofmaking ' its nest--generally among ; low.bushes,
by the'edge ofiftltc^fresh water.; tbeCnest, composed of a few
■stprns' of;grass,-,ânÿweir..lined with down ; the eggs, from six
tô in .number?:, in lin e .instance twelve dggs;were found
in one méat.' The-jegg's axe of a pale greeriish.7white, with a
tinge of buff -colour ; the length two . inches ^two lines, by
©ifl^inch and a half in breadth. These birds are expert
diÿers, feeding in shallow water .off: mollusca, Crustacea, arid
marine insects. In the stomachs of two examined by myself^