NOTES ON THE MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF ROUSAY. 65 



edge, these birds are easily shot by running when 

 they are under water, and stopping in good time 

 before they reappear, getting nearer and nearer at 

 each dive until they rise within shot. 



Long-tailed Duck (Harelda glacialis). Very com- 

 mon during the winter and sirring, sometimes in 

 considerable flocks, at other times scattered through 

 the whole of the sound between Rousay and the 

 mainland. At a certain state of the tide they were 

 always to be found off the point of Akerness, pro- 

 bably because the water was shallow enough there 

 to allow of their reaching the bottom. Although 

 not at all times easily approached by a boat, yet 

 their restlessness in continually flying about often 

 brings them within shot. Sometimes they will allow 

 a boat to sail quite close to them. Their call-note is 

 most musical. 



Tufted Duck (FuJUjula cristata). On the IGth of 

 June I saw a male Tufted Duck along with two 

 Pochard Drakes on Loch Wasbister, and on 28th 

 August I shot a female. They are common enough 

 in the winter, Loch Wasbister being rarely without 

 a few. They seem to be fonder of fresh water here 

 than any other species of duck. 



Eider Duck ( Somateria molUsHima). The Eider 

 Duck, or, as it is more generally called in the Ork- 

 neys, " Dunter," is a very common species, resident 

 throughout the year, and breeds commonly both on 

 Rousay and the adjacent islands. In summer, when 

 the ducks have hatched, the males assume a darker 

 plumage, and while in the moult and unable to fly, 

 assemble in considerable flocks, keeping away from 

 the shore and frequenting the more open i^arts of 

 the sounds. So long as it is not far from the sea, an 

 Eider Duck is not particular in its choice of a nesting 

 spot — sometimes it is in a cornfleld, at other times, 

 I believe, even in a ploughed held ; but their favourite 

 place is the smaller islands, where they are not so 

 likely to be disturbed. Here I have seen the old 



