is a male in the Upsala collection, supposed to have been
obtained somewhere on the Swedish coast, and a male in the
Bamberg Museum, said to have been shot in Tyrol in 1852.
If the notes of Mr. Henke, published by Mr. Seebohm, are
to he received implicitly, then “ the Harlequin Duck is a
rare summer visitor ” to the neighbourhood of Archangel
(Ibis, 1882, p. 884) ; hut there is no confirmatory evidence
of this, or of the old statement that this Duck is found on
the Caspian and the Aral. It has not been observed on
Novaya Zemlya, nor at the mouth of the Petchora ; Dr.
Finsch did not meet with it on the Oh, nor Mr. Seebohm
on the Yenesei. In the eastern half of Asiatic Siberia it is
found on the waters of the mountains and highlands, from
Lake Baikal and the Amoor to Kamtschatka, the Stanowoi
Mountains, and the Sea of Okhotsk; thence, by way of the
Kuril Islands, we trace it to northern Japan in winter.
Crossing Bering Sea, it occurs sparingly in the breeding-
season, in suitable localities, in Alaska, California down to
the upper waters of the Stanislaus at about 4000 feet
elevation, the Fur Countries up to the Arctic Circle, and
the interior of Labrador, and Newfoundland ; migrating as
far south as the Middle States in winter. In Greenland it
has been observed on both coasts : principally between G2
and 65° N. lat.
Iceland is the nearest point to the British Islands where
the Harlequin Duck is to be found; and there it appears to
be resident, migrating from the northern to the southern
districts in the winter. Mr. Shepherd observed it in considerable
numbers in the north-west portion, frequenting
the Laxa and other rapid streams, and making its nest in
holes in the hanks; and Dr. Kruper states that near My-
vatn it always selects holes in the lava, or under stones;
the eggs being buried in a whitish down. In Newfoundland,
Dr. C. Hart Merriam was assured by Mr. J. P. Howley and
other authorities that the Harlequins, which are there called
‘ Lords,’ and ' Ladies,’ made their nests in hollow trees, like
the Wood Duck. The eggs are of a creamy huff-colour;
average measurements 2*2 by 1’7 in.
The food of the Harlequin consists principally of small
mollusks, crustaceans and marine insects, in winter ; and in
summer Mr. L. Belding found the crop and gizzard of one
he dissected full of insects, partly the caddis-fly, without
any remains of fish, although the bird was shot in a trout
stream. He also states th a t''th e se birds, young and old,
tumble over and through rapids and cascades in an astonishing
manner.” It is said to be a remarkably silent Duck.
The adult male has the bill bluish-black; the irides
orange ; from the centre of the base of the bill over the
crown to the occiput, a black streak margined at first with
white and afterwards with chestnut on each side; behind
each eye a patch of white, followed, lower down, by a broader
streak of white; at the base of the bill on each side of the
black streak, a broad patch of white ; rest of the head, throat,
and neck bluish-black, down to an imperfect collar of white
margined with black; lower down, in a line with the carpal
joint, a crescentic half-band of broader white edged with
black ; back, wing-coverts, and rump, bluish-black ; primary
quill-feathers and tail dull black ; scapulars and secondaries
white; front of neck between the crescentic bands bluish-
grey ; below the second band dusky-grey, becoming darker
towards the vent and under tail-coverts, which are bluish-
black ; sides of the body and flanks chestnut; legs and toes
blue, the membranes darker. Whole length seventeen
inches; wing, from the hend, eight inches.
The female is considerably smaller than the male, and of
a nearly uniform brown-colour above, but mottled on the
front of the neck and on the breast with two shades of
brown, and with a patch of more or less pure white on the
forehead, as well as before and behind the eye; the belly
whitish. The whole length is fourteen inches ; wing, from
the carpal joint, seven inches.
Young males during their first winter are like the females,
but, in the second year, according to Audubon, “ are greyish-
brown on the back and wings, light brownish-grey beneath.
The head and neck are of a dull leaden-blue, the upper
part of the head darker. The white spot before the eye is