ETHYIA MARILA. 587 
AETHYTIA MARILA (Linnzus). 
SCAUP-DUCK. 
T had not recognized the Scaur-Ducx at all among the innumer- 
able flocks and families of Water-fowl I had seen on the Tornea and 
Muonio rivers in 1853, but many of the natives had talked of a 
larger kind of Sortti (Tufted Duck) which seemed to be this bird. 
Soon after the ice was washed out of the river at Muonioniska last 
spring, | commenced an “upping” towards the mountains of the 
Norwegian frontier. After about a week’s punting and towing we 
came to the headquarters of Scaup and Long-tailed Duck ; the larger 
white wings and light back of the Drakes of the former distinguishing 
them at a distance from the smaller kind of Sortti I had been 
accustomed to see lower down the river. I had indeed occasionally 
met with a pair of Scaups before I got so far up, and I have since 
learned that an eccentric couple or two even breed near Muonio- 
niska; but now the wider and stiller parts of the river were studded 
with pairs of this conspicuous bird. At the remote peasant’s house 
called Nyimakka I examined several which had been caught on 
artificial floating islets, where the birds got entangled in snares as 
they climb up to rest and plume themselves. On a little moor at 
the head of a quiet reach of the river, just where a fierce torrent 
swept into it, I found a nest which an Ermine had lately ransacked, 
but the favourite little islands where they regularly breed were not 
yet quite free from snow. Some ten days later, when there should 
have been eggs upon these islands, they were mostly under water 
from the unusually high floods caused by the sudden melting of the 
snow in the mountains, and the real danger to our lives as we tossed 
down the rocky rapids did not allow us to think of several very 
promising spots. I must tell you the kind of thing. Fancy a long 
narrow boat high in front like a Roman galley, that it may not dive 
right under water in descending the falls, the sides lashed up with 
additional planks to keep out the great waves. Three sturdy boat- 
men rowing with all their might, their faces pale from the more than 
ordinary risk ; the steersman leaning forward as he stands with one 
foot advanced, his brow knit, his eves as quick as an Eagle’s, whilst 
he feels his broad paddle, on the least touch or on the most powerful 
turn of which the safety of us all depends. I and my servant lad 
lying on the deer-skins at the bottom—used as I have been to boats— 
