Appendix. 237 



ing in company with the Velvet Scoter, in Scandinavia, rather more 

 commonly. It makes a nest of any available vegetable substance, 

 such as grasses, twigs, leaves, dry stalks ; it is lined with down, and 

 placed under the partial cover or concealment afforded by low 

 shrubs or other plants. The eggs are six or seven to ten in number, 

 of a pale buff colour slightly tinged with green, 2J inches long by If 

 broad. After the eggs are laid, the males assemble in large flocka 

 and draw towards the coast. 



:lS7. pochard. 



The breeding haunt of this bird seems to be more to the eastward 

 than that of the majority of those hitherto named. It is said to be 

 abundant in Russia and in the North of Germany, and is very 

 commonly found in the fur countries in America during the 

 breeding season. A few also breed on the borders of the Meres 

 in Holland. The nest is similar in site and materials to those of 

 the Wild Duck and other Ducks, and the eggs sometimes reach 

 the number of twelve. They are of a greenish buff colour, 2 

 inches in length, by If in breadth. The Pochard was dis- 

 covered, several years since, as breeding about the Mere at Scar- 

 borough, and has also been stated to nest occasionally in one or 

 two places in Norfolk. 



;? ^^« SCAUP DUCK. 



This Duck has also been known as breeding very incidentally in 

 this country, but its almost unbroken habit is to return to such 

 countries as Iceland, the swampy lake-district north of the Gulf of 

 Bothnia, and some parts of Norway, for nesting purposes. It some- 

 times makes its nest in what may be almost called the usual site for 

 the^ nests of Ducks, and sometimes upon the stones and shingle at 

 the edge of sheets of fresh water. The nest is very thin and slightly 

 formed, but well lined with down, and the eggs seem to be six, 



