BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 351 



The female is a little smaller; lier head and 

 neck are brown, tinged with red and speckled with 

 dark brown. The feathers on her upper-parts are 

 dark browai, margined with light reddish-brown ; 

 breast pale brown ; under- jjarts almost white ; 

 wings and tail somewhat similar to those of the 

 male. 



At the end of the spring and beginning of 

 summer the male retires to some solitary swamp, 

 and casts off his gay dress and assumes a dull and 

 sombre one, which he continues to wear until the 

 autumn. 



Situation and Locality. — On the ground, in a 

 clump of rushes, tuft of heather, or amongst coarse 

 grass, flags, reeds, and under dwarf bushes, cleverly 

 concealed, in the neighbourhood of lochs, swamps, 

 tarns, or rivers, where the ground is rough and 

 shelter- affording ; in suitable parts of Scotland, the 

 Orkneys and Shetlauds, and probably in one or two 

 parts of Ireland. 



Materials. — Eeeds, decayed rushes, leaves, and 

 dry grass, wdth an inner lining of down from the 

 bird's own body. The tufts are dark sooty-brown, 

 with conspicuous white tips. 



Eggs. — Six to twelve, generally seven or eight ; 

 creamy white, somewhat like those of the Gadwall. 

 The locality of the nest, and the feathers of the 

 down tufts prevent any chance of confusion with 

 that duck. Size about '2-!2 by 1"5 in. 



Time.—M^j. 



BemarJcs. — A wdnter visitor, generally arriving 

 in September or October, and departing North in 

 March or April. Notes, a shrill whistle. Local 

 and other names : Whew Duck, Whewer, Pandle 

 Whew, Yellow Poll, Easterlings, Whim. A close 

 sitter. 



