BLACK SCOTER. 215 



autumn, and remaining till the spring, when they 

 retire northward to fulfil the dictates of nature. 

 They also occur in America, and are said to breed 

 at Hudson's Bay, the female laying from six to ten 

 white eggs, in a nest formed of grass and lined with 

 down. Their food is shell-fish, in search of which 

 they are perpetually diving: they swim apparently 

 at ease amidst the roughest surf, but fly heavily along 

 the surface, and to no great distance : on land they 

 walk very awkwardly and erect. Their flesh is very 

 indifferent, and its flavour partakes so much of fish, 

 that it is allowed to be eaten in Roman Catholic 

 countries on fast-days ; and in France immense quan- 

 tities are taken to supply the demand. Nets are 

 spread horizontally over the beds of the shell-fish 

 upon which they feed, supported at the height of two 

 or three feet from the bottom : at the flowing of the 



O 



tide the birds approach in great numbers, diving after 

 their favourite food, and soon get entangled in the 

 nets : twenty or thirty dozen have sometimes been 

 taken in a single tide by this contrivance. 



