242 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Pochard, but the down in the nest serves to identify 

 them. The tufts are small and grayish-black in colour, 

 with obscure pale centres — much darker than that of the 

 preceding species. 



Family ANATID^. Genus Fuligula. 



Sub-family FULIGULINAL. 



COMMON SCOTER. 



Fuligula nigra {^Linncvns). 

 Single Brooded. Laying season, May. 



British breeding area : The Common Scoter only 

 deserves its name during autumn and winter, when its 

 numbers often blacken the seas, but during the breeding 

 season it is a rare and excessively local bird. It is at 

 present only known to breed in small numbers in Caith- 

 ness, Sutherlandshire, and Ross-shire. It is also said to 

 breed on the Earnly Marshes near Chichester. 



Breeding habits : The Common Scoters that breed 

 with us so utterly lose their identity in the countless 

 hordes that pour south in autumn and winter, that it is 

 a matter of impossibility to say whether they move 

 more to the south of us at that season or not. The 

 favourite breeding-haunts of this Duck are the moorland 

 lakes and rivers close to the sea, especially in such 

 localities where small birches and willows abound 

 amongst the broken, heath-clothed ground. I do not 

 trace much sociability in this species during the breeding 

 season, but unfortunately naturalists who have studied 

 the habits of the bird in regions where it is abundant fail 

 to inform us of the matter. Probably this species pairs 

 for life, although the data on which the statement is 



