SCAUP DUCK. 



A NSERES. 



423 



AN AT I D^. 



FuLiGULA MARiLA (Liniifieus '^) . 



THE SCAUP DUCK. 



Fidigida marila. 



The Scaup Duck is a winter visitor to this country, and 

 rather a late one, seldom making its appearance till the 

 end of Octoher, or the heginning of November. About that 

 time, particularly if the weather be rough and cold, small 

 flocks arrive on various parts of the coast and at the mouths 

 of rivers, hwi do not often visit the waters of inland counties. 

 They appear to prefer low, flat, muddy, or oozy shores, and 

 are often numerous throughout the winter months on such 

 portions of our coasts, where, in company with Tufted 

 Ducks, Golden-eyes, and other species, they are sometimes 

 pursued by wild-fowl shooters in their gunning-punts, and 

 also occasionally caught by fishermen in upright nets fixed 

 in curving lines on perpendicular stakes in shallow bays. 



* Anas marila, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 196 (1766). 



