ANSERES. ( 122 ) ANATIDAi. 



THE LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



LONG-TAILED HARELD, NORTHERN HARELD, SHARP-TAILED DUCK, 



CALLOO, COAL-AND-CANDLE-LIGHT, COL-CANDLEWICK, 



COLDIE, MEALY-BIRD. 



Harelda glacialis. 

 %^z Coal^aiid^Cantile-.llicljt 2Ductv* 



Fowls by -winter foxed forsake the floods. 

 And wing their hasty flight to happier lands. 



Drayton. 



The Long-tailed Duck, which is an autumn and winter 

 visitor, is seen in small flocks off the coast of Berwickshire, 

 and sometimes singly or in pairs on the inland waters of 

 the county, including the Tweed and the lake at Duns 

 Castle. Mr. Hardy records that two were killed in the 

 Harbour Loch, Coldingham Shore, in January 1860.^ I 

 shot a female on the Tweed at Finchy, near Paxton, in the 

 end of December 1874. Mr. W. Smith, gamekeeper, Duns 

 Castle, informs me that he noticed a Long-tailed Duck on 

 the lake there on the 13th of January 1886. 



Females and immature males are most frequently met 

 with, the male in his beautiful adult plumage being com- 

 paratively seldom seen. 



The food of this species consists chiefly of crustaceans, 

 fish, and other marine creatures. Its flesh is coarse and 

 unsavoury. 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. iv. p. 211. 



