infl f the tide, where it can obtain a plentiful supply of its chief food, the smaller univalye
admit the influence of the ,

It is in this country a regular winter visitant, and, except in very mild seasons, is
tis in S . 5

and bivalve shell-fish.
yusly distributed along such of our shores :
of November; and its influx increases in proportion to the severity of

as suit its peculiar economy. It seldom arrives before the
numer

- or the beginning
nd of October or the begin 9 ; a
end « eo, ‘vals constantly occurring as the northern countries become frozen up. On the advance
weather, iresb arrivals ste , 2g

ierates towards the pole, advancing, for the purpose of breeding and passing the Summer,
ig i ss ‘

|

We

of spring, it again m

. The Scaup is an excellent diver, and obtains its food by searching the mud

to very high latitudes.

beneath with its bill. It also swims well and swiftly ; but its flattened shape mane it appear to “ deeply
‘nmersed in the water. Its flight is strong, but not rapid ; and the weight of its body and concavity of its
wings compel it always to rise against the wind. It isa pia as bird, and appeats - know the pre
distance at which it is safe ; from which cause, and the resistance given Dy its plumage, it * not easily killed,
In confinement, it soon becames tame, and, if provided with water, thrives well upon grain ang other food
eaten by poultry ; and under this regimen its flesh is said to improve in flavour, and 1G to be infertag to that
of the Wild Duck. It makes a hoarse grunting sort of noise, and has a singular habit of tossing up its head
and opening its bill, particularly during spring, while swimming and sporting on the water It is a beau-
tiful sieht,” says Meyer, “ to observe a string of these birds swimming on the sea, and especially to notice
ee el Ss kth they rise from that element. When one of the extremities of such a long body
rises in the air, the rest follow as their turn comes; and thus they are, as it were, drawn up one by one from
the surface of the water; and when pursuing their course, they continue to keep the same order in the airs
on alighting, the same regularity.” Richard Dann informed Mr. Yarrell that ‘ the Scaup Duck, in its mic
gration south, does not make its appearance on the western coast of Europe until late in the winter, and

then only il

comparatively small numbers; its migration appears to be more southerly than westerly, It
breeds on the swamp and lakes towards the north of the Bothnian Gulf, near Lulea, in considerable numbers.
I have shot the young there previously to their being able to fly. Being a diving duck, they avoid the reeds,
and keep out in the open water. They are also numerous in the Dovre Fjeld mountains, frequenting and
breeding near swampy solitary lakes as high as the birch-wood grows. At whatever season the Scaup is shot,
it is generally very fat and heavy.”

Eggs of the Scaup Duck were brought from Iceland by Mr. Proctor, who states that the bird is very
common there, that it sometimes places its nest among the thick herbage and at others upon the bare
stones by the edge of the freshwater lochs, and that it makes only a slight nest of a few stems of grass,
but thickly lined with down, and lays from five to eight eggs of a uniform clay-brown, two inches and three-
eighths in length, by one inch and five-eighths in breadth.

To show the wild and singular situations resorted to by this bird for the purpose of breeding, the fol-
lowing extract from some details communicated to Mr. Hewitson, by the late John Wolley, may be cited :-—

“T had not recognized the Scaup-Duck at all amongst the innumerable flocks and families of water-fowl I
had seen on the Torneo aud Muonio rivers in 1853

; but many of the natives had talked of a large kind of
‘ Sorrti

’ (tufted Duck), which seemed to be this bird.

Soon after the ice was washed out of the river at
Muonioniska

last spring, I commenced an ‘upping’ towards the mountains of the Norwegian frontier.

\fter about a week’s punting and towing we came to the head quarters of the Scaup-Duck . . . the wider
and stiller parts of the river were studded with pairs

of this conspicuous bird. At the remote peasant’s
house called ‘ Nyimakka

[ examined several, which bad been caught on artificial floating islets, where the
ares as they climb up to rest and plume themselves. On a little moor at the head

of a quiet reach of the river, Just where a fierce torrent swept into it, I found a nest which an ermine had
lately ransacked ; but the favourite little is

Some ten days later,

birds get entangled in sn

lands where they regularly breed were not yet quite free from snow.
when there should have been eggs upon these islands, they were mostly under water
from the unusu lly high floods, caused by the sudden melting of the snow in the mountains; and the real
ossed down the rocky
shots.” —Eves of British Birds, vol. x).

In Lapland Mr. Wheelw right

breeding, both in the low

danger for our lives, as we is
es, as we t rapids, did not allow us to think of many promising

p. 427,

found the Scaup Duck

not uncommon, and he often met with them
grounds and on the fell-meadows.

Phe following is a description of the colouring of the soft
Male.—Bill, rich leaden blue,

darker or bl

parts soon after death :—

| with a black nail ; irides

we ickish on the joints; the interdigital membranes were

lomale RR : q 7 .

soy ae ig - crossed by a band of grey near the tip; irides, legs, and feet as in the
The

fine yellow; tarsi and toes light greyish olive,

also inclined to black.

) . :
Plate represents the two sexes, of the size of life