BIRDS OF ICELAND 61 



is distinctly nasty ; and as other ornithologists may like 

 to lead the same independent kind of life there, a few 

 hints may not be thrown away. When I skin a bird 

 the best parts of the remains, unless nasty, go into the 

 next stew. Not Scaup, though, unless there is a 

 serious dearth. 



The Scaup drake is a handsome bird, with head, neck 

 and upper breast of a shining jet black ; mantle white, 

 finely lined transversely with dark grey ; a white 

 speculum, with a black posterior margin glossed with 

 green, on the dusky wing; rest of underparts white; 

 bill, legs, and feet bluish, the bill with a black ' nail ' 

 at the tip. Length 18 inches, wing 8h inches. The 

 female is dusky brown, has a white ring of feathers 

 round the base of the bill, dirty- white underparts, and 

 a dingy imitation on the mantle of the colours of 

 the corresponding part in the male. The Scaup is a 

 clumsy ' cob-built ' duck, quite different in figure from 

 the elegant Pintail and Wigeon. 



The nest is placed amongst low vegetation, or 

 amongst stones even, near water, and the eggs (six 

 to ten in number) are rather more than 2 J inches long, 

 and of a dull drab in colour. 



The food at sea consists of mollusca (especially 

 mussels; see 'mussel-scalp,' the latter being probably 

 connected with the names ' scallop ' and ' scaup '), and 

 some sea-plants (e.g. Zostera). In Iceland the food 

 consists of fresh-water mollusca {Limnoea percgra, 

 Pisidmm, Succinea) and a certain amount of vegetable 

 matter. The rivers and lakes of Iceland (such as are 



