AN AT I D^. 



437 



THE SCAUP DUCK. 



FuLiGULA MARiLA (Linnaius). 



The Scaup Duck seldom makes its appearance on our southern 

 coasts till the end of October or beginning of November, though 

 somewhat earlier in the north ; and it is common during the winter 

 on low oozy shores as well as in sheltered rocky bays. By spring 

 the great majority take their departure, but Mr. A. C. Stark says 

 that on Loch Leven in Scotland, on May 15th, he saw about forty, 

 all paired ; on June 5lh five couples remained, and the follow- 

 ing day he flushed a female from a nest containing eleven fresh 

 eggs in a clump of rushes close to the side of the loch ; the bird 

 alighting on the water and affording a good opportunity for examin- 

 ation through a telescope. This species is not numerous in the 

 Outer Hebrides, or on the south coast of Ireland; but with these 

 exceptions it seems to be generally distributed along the shores of 

 the United Kingdom. 



In the Fseroes, where the Scaup is common in autumn and winter, 

 a few remain through the summer ; and in Iceland it breeds in 

 great abundance; as it does up to 70"^ N. lat., in Scandinavia, Arctic 

 Russia, and Asiatic Siberia as far as the Pacific. According to 

 Blasius it nested on one occasion at the Hiddensee in Brunswick ; 

 but as a rule it is only found south of the Baltic in winter and on 

 passage ; while it is rare in the western portion of the Mediter- 



