EIDEB DUCK 



253 



number, and are emooth, oval in shape, and of a pale dull green 

 colour. The female continues to pluck down from her body during 

 incubation, until the eggs are enveloped in a large mass of it ; and 

 on leaving the nest to feed she covers the eggs with the down. At 

 this time the drake is not wholly forgetful of her, and on her ap- 

 pearance, when she leaves her eggs to feed, he usually keeps company 

 with her, and after she has left the water rejoins his male com- 

 panions. 



The drake is at aU times a shy and wary bird ; but in the breeding 

 season the ducks, if not molested, are very tame, and at the Fame 

 Islands the sitting-bird will sometimes allow her back to be stroked, 

 without leaving her eggs. 



Common Scoter. 

 CEdemia nigra. 



Fig. 85. — Common Scoter, i natural size. 



Black, the upper parts glossy ; central ridge of the upper man- 

 dible orange. Length, twenty inches. Female: blackish brown 

 above, dark brown below. 



The common, or black scoter, is a large, handsome bird, whose 

 handsomeness is due to its uniform blackness, reminding one of 

 those two familiar beauties and favourites, the blackbird and the 

 domestic black cat ; and as with these two — one with splendid 



