COMMON SCOTER. 221 



birds only twelve or fourteen months old, that Avould remain 

 unable to breed till the following summer. The Scoter is 

 not very often found on fresh-water inland during winter ; 

 yet the late Sir Richard C. Hoare, Bart, sent me word, some 

 years ago, that his keeper had shot a Scoter on the ornamental 

 water in the Park at Stourhead, Wiltshire, which is more 

 than twenty miles from the sea, in a straight line, and no 

 such bird had been seen there before. 



The Scoter feeds almost exclusively on the soft bodies of 

 muscles, and the animals of other bivalve shells, which they 

 obtain by diving, and they approach the shore generally with 

 each flood-tide for the purpose of satisfying their appetite. 

 The flesh of the Scoter is oily, and has a strong fishy taste ; 

 it is in consequence, but seldom eaten in this country ; but 

 these same qualities are considered a recommendation else- 

 where, for being identified with fish, it is allowed by the 

 Romish church to be eaten in Lent, and on fast days ; and 

 so great is the demand for it, that many devices are in use 

 on the sea coasts of Catholic countries to obtain these Ducks 

 for the use of the table. One of the modes in practice is 

 thus described in more than one work on ornithology. Ad- 

 vantage is taken of the habits of this Duck by the fishermen 

 on the coast, who, at the ebb-tide, spread their nets horizon- 

 tally, about two or three feet above the beds of shell-fish, 

 which these birds are observed most to haunt. Upon the 

 return of the tide the Scoters approach in great numbers, and 

 diving for their food, become entangled in the meshes of the 

 floating nets ; and in this way it is said that twenty or thirty 

 dozens have been taken in a single tide. 



I am indebted to H. L, Long, Esq. of Hampton Lodge, 

 Farnham, for a copy of a French account by M. Hugo, of 

 the mode in which many of these birds are obtained upon the 

 various salt lakes in the vicinity of Martigues, at the mouth 

 of the Rhone. These numerous salt lakes are frequented in 



