Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/111

Rh side the surf), I left the Godwits, and began to paddle down to the Ducks; but before I had gone fifty yards they rose again, and as they flew past, observing some white showing on the head of one, it suddenly struck me that they were the rare Surf Scoters, birds that I had never seen alive. So, turning the punt, I paddled up to where they had pitched, about a quarter of a mile above me; they were not at all shy, and, letting me get within fifty yards, I fired my big gun, loaded with an Eley's wire cartridge, but unfortunately at the moment forgetting that at short range the cartridge threw high, I did not depress the muzzle sufficiently, and the consequence was that the body of the charge went over them, a couple of grains only taking effect, one killing the female, the male being only winged. On the smoke clearing away I saw one bird lying dead on the water, the other having disappeared on being struck. However, he soon appeared on the surface about forty yards off, when I saw that he was a beautiful adult male, his orange-red bill and white patches on head and nape of neck contrasting strongly with his jetty-black plumage. Taking up my cripple-stopper, I let him have a charge of No. 6, which had no more effect in stopping him than a charge of sand. This shot sent him under water again, and then began a most exciting chase all about the pool and channel, the bird diving and turning in all directions when under water, and by these manoeuvres throwing me off of his line so frequently, that, though always keeping him moving, I could never get closer than thirty or forty yards, and as he always swam under the water, showing only his head and neck stretched out on the surface, offered no mark to fire at from such a distance. Although I fired four times, I do not think a grain touched him, for he used always to duck the flash, the shot striking the water over the place he had been, and just too late. The chase, unfortunately for me always a stern one, lasted for over an hour and a quarter, when, getting into a dark patch of water caused by the shade of the land, he fairly blinked me by darting back and getting down channel when I thought he had gone up, and I lost time searching the upper part. Losing such a prize after being winged was most annoying, but the strength and endurance of the bird was surprising, for at the time I lost sight of him he appeared as fresh as when the chase began.

The Surf Scoter is one of our rarest visitors, W. Thompson recording only one specimen, an adult male, shot at Ballyholme, Belfast Bay, on Sept. 9th, 1846 ('Birds of Ireland,' iii. p. 118); and Sir R. Payne-Gallwey mentions a second as shot in October, 1880, at Clontarf, Co. Dublin ('Fowler in Ireland,' p. 113); while Mr. R.M. Barrington obtained an immature female, shot at Crookhaven, Co. Cork, on Nov. 5th, 1888 (Zool. 1889, p. 32). Mr. Sheridan, of Achill, Co. Mayo, speaks of shooting a female with a rifle-ball in Achill Sound in 1870. So the five above-mentioned