NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 175 



Family ANATID.E. Genus Fuligula. 



Sub-family FUUGULIN^E. 



VELVET SCOTER. 



Fuligula fusca {Linnceus). 



(British : Fairly common aiitmnn and winter migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, end of June and early July. 



Breeding area : Northern PaLnearctic region. The 

 Velvet Scoter breeds in the Arctic and sub-arctic regions 

 of Europe and Asia, as far north as lat. 69°, and as far 

 south as the Baltic Provinces in the west and lat. 55° in 

 the east. The Nearctic representative is F. fusca 

 felvetma. 



Breeding habits: The Velvet Scoter is a n:iigratory 

 bird, coming south in winter, but retiring north again in 

 spring to breed, reaching its nesting grounds with the 

 break-up of the ice and the melting of the snow. Its 

 breeding- o-rounds are situated at some distance from the 

 coast, as a rule, and not unfrequently the nest is made 

 a long way from any water at all. It is gregarious 

 during winter, but appears to live in scattered pairs only 

 during the breeding season. Its favourite haunts are 

 the tundras, usually in the vicinity of the great rivers 

 and lakes. The nest is made upon the ground amongst 

 scrub or the coarse vegetation of the tundra, or under 

 the shelter of a rush-tuft or solitary bush near the water, 

 but sometimes on a dry part of the moor. It is merely 

 a hollow, in which a little dry grass, a few dead leaves 

 or other vegetable fragments have been placed, and 

 lined with down and a few feathers from the body of 

 the female. The bird sits closely, and always covers 

 the eggs for concealment when leaving them voluntarily. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 



