LONG-TAILED DUCK. 257 



October, and departing again in March. It is to be met 

 with in all the inlets or voes, generally in large flocks, never 

 far from the land, feeding upon small shell-fish and star-fish. 

 When on the wing it utters a musical cry, something like 

 ' calloo,"* which may be heard to a great distance ; from this 

 cry it derives its provincial name." 



The Long-tailed Duck is well known in Denmark, and 

 among its numerous islands. Mr. W. C. Hewitson, in his 

 work on the eggs of our British Birds, says, "we met with 

 many whilst in Norway ; and although those which we shot 

 and dissected had every aj^pearance of being shortly about to 

 breed, yet they were always in flocks, roving from place to 

 place, and apparently unattached to any particular spot ; 

 sometimes sweeping past, within a few yards of us, with 

 great rapidity, uttering their strikingly-wild and most inte- 

 resting cries. Several eggs of this bird were brought home 

 by the officers of the Arctic expeditions : for the one figured 

 I am indebted to the liberality of my friend, Mr. G. C. 

 Atkinson, who, during an excursion in Iceland, had the good 

 fortune to meet with a nest of the Long-tailed Duck ; it was 

 placed near the margin of a small lake, and lined with the 

 down of the female ; the eggs were six in number, but would 

 most probably have been increased to ten or twelve, the 

 usual number of this tribe of birds." Mr. Procter, who also 

 visited Iceland, sent me word that he found this Duck rather 

 common there, making its nest generally among low bushes, 

 by the edge of the fresh water ; the nest, composed of a few 

 stems of grass, and well lined with down ; the eggs, from six 

 to ten in number : in one instance twelve eggs were found 

 in one nest. The eggs are of a pale greenish-white, with a 

 tinge of buff colour ; the length two inches two lines, by 

 one inch and a half in breadth. These birds are expert 

 divers, feeding in shallow water on mollusca, Crustacea, and 

 marine insects. In the stomachs of two examined by myself, 



VOL. III. S 



