a 
DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. 217 
this season, like most of its kind, although the 
flocks are seldom or never so large as the gather- 
ings of Scoters and others. Its flight is remarkably 
quick, the long tail making the bird look extremely 
elegant. It is also an expert diver, disappearing as 
quick as thought, and often going for long distances 
beneath the surface, like a Grebe or a Shag. It 
obtains most of its food by diving, and, like the 
Eider, often comes shorewards with the tide. It 
feeds in deeper water, too, than many of its allies, 
as much of its prey is captured, not at the bottom, 
but floating in the sea. This food consists of small 
molluscs, crustaceans, minute marine animals, 
insects, and water plants, and weeds. Its note 
may be described as a loud cat-loo-o0. 
The Long-tailed Duck breeds in the Arctic 
regions of Europe, Asia, and North America, 
above the limits of forest growth, and, possibly, 
as far north as land exists. During summer, it 
frequents inland pools and lakes; odd pairs taking 
possession of the former, many pairs congregating 
on the latter. The birds arrive in the Arctic 
regions with the break-up of the ice, congregating 
in the pools amongst the floes. The nest is usually 
placed in some sheltered nook, amongst birch and 
willow scrub, in long grass, or on the drifted 
rubbish by the banks of the subsided rivers. It is 
little more than a hollow, lined with down. In this, 
during June or early July, from seven to twelve 
buffish-green eggs are laid by the female. It is a 
