WILD FOWL ON AN ESTUARY WINTER 279 



feeding - ground. Teal, and widgeon feed in- 

 differently on the grasses which grow round the 

 margin of both. 



The golden-eye, though classed as a sea duck, 

 inclines to fresh water, and enlivens most of our 

 inland lochs by his iijcessant diving. 



The pochard also winters in the loch in pre- 

 ference to his native sea. In the sheets which 

 he frequents, he seems to act as a provider for the 

 non-diving species. Dropping to the bottom, he 

 pulls up the water plants, tears off the roots as 

 his share, and allows the blades, for which he has 

 no liking, to float on the surface, there to be con- 

 sumed by the attendant ducks. 



A bag from an estuary should include mallard, 

 teal, and widgeon, with scaup and pintail ; a bag 

 from an inland loch should include mallard, teal, 

 and widgeon, with pochard and golden-eye. If the 

 balance of the ducks is thus fairly well preserved, 

 the estuary has a very great advantage in the 

 number and variety of the waders. 



The inhabitants of the two domains are 

 frequently interchanging. A gale from the sea 

 will drive the estuary birds to the land-locked 

 lakes ; a continued frost, by icing over the water, 

 will send the inland birds from the smaller to the 



