that passed the shores of Labrador on the northward
migration, and this report has been very recently confirmed
to me verbally from the personal experience of
Mr. H. E. Dresser. Audubon found a nest of this Duck
upon a vast freshwater marsh in Labrador, and describes
it as being entirely composed of withered and rotten
weeds, the former being circularly arranged over the
latter, producing a well-rounded cavity six inches in
diameter by two and a half in depth. This nest was
lined with the down of the bird, and contained five eggs
of a uniform pale yellowish or cream colour. This was
the only nest found on this occasion; the female on
leaving her eggs uttered a rough guttural cry, somewhat
resembling that of the Goosander in similar circumstance.
It appears that the Surf-Scoter has been met
with more frequently in the Orkneys than elsewhere on
our side of the Atlantic, but it has been captured in
many other localities in Great Britain and Ireland, as
also in the Faeroes, Swedish Lapland, in the Baltic,
once off Heligoland, and in some numbers on the
northern coast of France.