426 ANATID^. 



the bird's unwillingness to leave, even when repeatedly dis- 

 turbed, led him to think that the female was not far off ; 

 and further evidence is given in the Pr. Nat. H. Soc. 

 Glasgow, 1875, p. 120. Mr. A. C. Stark Sc^-s (Pr. K. Phys. 

 Soc. Edin. vii. p. 203) that at Loch Leven, on the IStli 

 May, he saw about forty Scaups, all paired, and on the 

 5th June he saw five pairs there. The following day he 

 flushed a female Scaup from a nest containing eleven fresh 

 eggs in an isolated clump of rushes close to the side of the 

 loch, and he adds that the bird alighted on the water and 

 afforded a good opportunity for examination through a 

 telescope. 



In the Fffiroes, where the Scaup is common in autumn 

 and winter, a few remain over the summer, and Major 

 Feilden observed a single pair on a small lake so late as the 

 20th May, 1872. The late Mr. Proctor sent the Author 

 word that the Scaup Duck is a very common species in 

 Iceland, where it breeds either among the aquatic herbage, 

 or the large stones, near the edge of fresh water, making 

 a slight nest, with a quantity of down covering the eggs, 

 which are from five to eight in number, of a uniform clay- 

 buff colour; average measurements 2*6 by 1'75 in. 



As regards Scandinavia, the late Mr. Ptichard Dann sup- 

 plied the Author with the following note : — " The Scaup 

 Duck, in its migration south, does not make its appearance 

 on the western coast of Europe until late in the winter, and 

 then only in comparatively small numbers ; its migration 

 appears to be more southerly than westerly. It breeds on 

 the swampy lakes towards the north of the Bothnian Gulf, 

 near Lulea, in considerable numbers. I have shot the 

 young there previously to their being able to fly. I have 

 seen them about Gellivara and Lulea in small numbers. 

 Being a diving-duck they avoid the reeds, and keep out 

 in the open water. They are, also, tolerably numerous in 

 the Dovre Fjeld mountains, frequenting and breeding near 

 swampy solitary lakes as high as the birch-wood grows. At 

 whatever season the Scaup Duck is shot, it is generally very 

 fat and heavy." 



