134 ANATIDAL 
Immature birds! are more often met with than adults ; 
the former are harder to distinguish than the old males, 
which are strikingly handsome. 
This species is gregarious, though it seldom collects 
into very large flocks. In the year 1856, Mr. Warren 
observed fifty birds together (nearly all males), feeding 
outside the Moy estuary, co. Mayo. 
This Duck delights in the open sea, and is driven only 
by stress of weather to take refuge in bays and shallows. It 
is seldom met with away from the tide, but Mr. Ussher 
mentions several interesting instances from inland lakes, also 
one from Portadown on the River Bann, and another from a 
small pond at Rathfarnam near Dublin (‘ Birds of Ireland’). 
Voice.—Long-tailed Ducks attract attention by their loud 
gabbling cry (unlike the hoarse croak of most Diving Ducks), 
which may be syllabled cal-l00-00-cal-l06-00. In Scotland 
this cry has been translated into coal-an-can-le-licht. 
Food.—Being an expert diver, this Duck frequents deep 
waters studded with rocks, from which periwinkles and 
other shell-fish can be picked at a depth of three or four 
fathoms. Seaweeds and worms also form part of the diet. 
Nest.—The nest, composed of broken stems of withered 
grass, with a warm lining of down, is built on the ground 
and generally concealed in some sort of rough herbage, 
such as a grass-tuft or in scrub; or it may be placed at 
the foot of a low bush, but always close to a river, lake, 
or pond. The eggs, ten to twelve or more in number, are 
greenish-white with a tinge of buff (Yarrell). In the breed- 
ing-season this Duck is sociable, and. many nests may be 
discovered within the confines of a small area. 
Except occasionally in the Shetlands (Buckley and 
Evans, ‘Fauna of the Shetlands,’ 1899), and perhaps in 
the Orkneys, there is no evidence of the Long-tailed Duck 
breeding in the British Isles. 
Geographical distribution.—This species nests numerously 
within the Arctic circle in Europe, Asia, and America, its 
breeding-range being practically circumpolar. It breeds 
more sparingly in Sub-arctic latitudes. 
On its southern migration, it visits the seas and large 
sheets of fresh water of the European, Asiatic and North 
1 Several examples of immature Long-tailed Ducks have been shot on 
the Dublin coast; I have collected three from that locality. 
