140 SCAUP POCHARD. 



This loch was fringed with rank aquatic herbage, 

 and might have been a fitting place for its incuba- 

 tion ; and when first discovered at a distance, and 

 seen by the assistance of a glass to be a scaup, a 

 young one was observed swimming with it, yet we 

 could not afterwards trace it ; we can scarcely say 

 with certainty that it had bred where it was dis- 

 covered and shot. We thought it probable that it 

 had been a bird detained, and unable to migrate, 

 by some wound or hurt ; but none was visible, and, 

 when skinned, it appeared to be in good and healthy 

 condition. They breed in Scandinavia and in Ice- 

 land, by the sides of the fresh- water lakes, Mr. 

 Procter of Durham procured the eggs from the latter 

 locality, one of which has been figured by Mr. 

 Hewitson in his Oology. With the exception of 

 North America, we do not know of any extra- 

 European range. By Audubon the scaup is said to 

 be met with on the Atlantic coast from the Gulf of 

 Mexico to the Bay of Fundy ; it is also found in 

 the larger rivers, the Ohio, Missouri, Mississippi. 



The male in full-plumage is a showy bird ; the 

 bill is a bright bluish grey, with a black nail ; the 

 head and neck blackish green, with glossy green 

 and purple reflections, the plumage full, and of a 

 silky texture ; the lower part of the neck and breast 

 are deep black, belly and flanks white, the vent 

 waved with narrow lines of blackish grey; the 

 mantle and scapulary feathers, contrasting with the 

 other dark plumage, are clear greyish white, strongly 

 marked with wavy zigzag lines; quills black, se- 



