284 THE DIVING DUCKS 



open water. The duck is very wary and is not a close sitter, but takes 

 to the water when approached, uttering a warning "wak." For six or 

 seven weeks after hatching the young remain under the charge of 

 the mother, but when they are fledged the family parties unite into 

 larger flocks, and, according to Faber, the males rejoin their families 

 and make their way together towards the sea. 



Mr. G. Bolam gives a vivid and life-like picture of Scoters feeding 

 just outside where the heaviest surf is breaking, probably in order that 

 they may capture the sandhoppers (Gammaridea) which swarm in such 

 places. " A flock of Scoters feeding just beyond the breakers has 

 often reminded me, by their actions, of the movement of starlings 

 across a field. As the ebb of the tide gradually carries them seaward, 

 those farthest out are continually rising on the wing and flying back 

 over the heads of their companions to the white line of waves, right 

 into which they boldly plunge. A sort of constant movement is thus 

 kept up amongst the flock, and a person lying concealed near water- 

 mark will have a number of the birds every now and again flying 

 straight towards him." l So confident are they in their powers, that 

 when the weather is not too rough they will frequently ride over the 

 curling crest of an approaching wave instead of diving through it as 

 other ducks do. 



The velvet-scoter is not nearly so common a visitor to our coasts 

 as the preceding species, and has a more eastern breeding range; but 

 it is a bird of somewhat similar habits, except that it is generally found 

 on our shores in small parties of a pair or two, instead of large flocks. 

 It also remains rather farther out at sea, and apparently is even a 

 better diver than the common-scoter, remaining longer below the sur- 

 face. 2 A few words as to its nesting-habits may not be out of place, 

 though it has not been known to breed in the British Isles. Messrs. 

 H. J. and C. E. Pearson found several nests in deep cracks of the peat 

 overgrown with Empetrum nigrum, so that the sitting bird was quite 



1 Birds of Northumberland and the Eastern Borders, p. 410. 



1 According to Howard Saunders, though, curiously enough, Lord Lilford expresses a 

 precisely opposite opinion 1 



