Rare Bird, on the Firth of Forth

On the 2d ult., Oliver Colt, Esq., of Rownhams, Hants, whilst shooting on the Firth of Forth, had the good fortune to bag, with various other wild-fowl, a beautiful specimen of the Great-billed or Surf Scoter (Pidemia perspicillata, Flem.), shot in Musselburgh Bay. The bird,which is very rare, has recently been exhibited to the Royal Physical Society at Edinburgh. It is an adult male; the plumage black, with a round white spot on the forehead; and another, somewhat triangular, on the back of the neck: the bill is curiously dilated, is of a reddish orange colour, with a black patch on its base at each side, and in front of this a bluish-white spot. The bird is about twenty-one inches in length, and was easily distinguished by the above striking characters. Very few instances of the capture of the Surf Scoter have been recorded. Its native habitat is North America, where it is abundant; and Dr. Smith remarked to the Physical Society, that this, so far as he was aware, was the second time the bird had been captured in the Firth of Forth, and the third or fourth time it had been observed in Britain. Dr. Smith stated that he had been enabled to exhibit the bird by the politeness of Mr. Dickson, one of the firm of John Dickson, and Co., gunmakers, Prince's-street, Edinburgh.