ANSERES. ( 119 ) A NATION. 



THE SCAUP DUCK.1 



WHITE-FACED DUCK, SPOON-BILL DUCK, MUSSEL DUCK, 

 BLACK-HEADED DIVEK. 



Fuligula marila. 



It was the dreariest depth of winter-tide, 



And on the ocean and its isles was felt 



The iron sway of the North. Yea, even the fowl, 



That through the polar summer months could see 



A beauty in Spitsbergen s naked isles, 



Or on the drifting icebergs seek a home, 



Even they had fled, on southern wing, in search 



Of less inclement shores. 



Delta, The Fowler. 



The Scaup Duck is a winter visitor to the sea-coast, but is 

 seldom seen on the inland waters of Berwickshire. When 

 severe weather occurs, with snow and hard frost, it is occa- 

 sionally seen on the Tweed near Paxton, where several 

 were shot during the snow-storm of 1870-71, and again 

 in December 1875. 



It is an expert diver, and feeds principally on shell-fish 

 and marine plants, and is not therefore a very palatable 

 bird for the table. 



The head, neck, and upper breast of the male are black, 

 glossed with green, while the feathers round the base of the 

 bill in the female are white. 



1 So named from its feeding amongst broken mussel and oyster shells ; called in 

 the north "Scaup."— Swainson, Provincial Names of British Birds, 1885, p. 159. 



