Wild Ducks and Duck Decoying. 205 



a handsome duck, with velvety black plumage 

 relieved by a purely white patch on the 

 wing and a crescent-shaped spot of the same 

 colour under the eye. This, too, is a winter 

 visitant, enjoying and obtaining its food in the 

 roughest wintry seas. A few velvet scoters may 

 always be seen among the immense flocks of the 

 common kind. In haunt and habit, as well 

 as food, the common and velvet scoters are 

 identical. The surf scoter is the rarest of the 

 three British species, and is intermediate in size 

 between the two last. With black plumage like 

 its congeners, it is characteristically marked by 

 a white spot on the forehead and an elongated 

 white streak down the neck. The roughest seas 

 have no terror to the surf scoter, and it is such 

 an expert diver as to be able to fish at a depth 

 of several fathoms. None of the scoters breed in 

 Britain, but nest in the great Northern marshes. 

 Another of the well-known marine ducks is 

 the pochard, or dun-bird. To fishermen and 

 fowlers it is known as " poker " and " redhead," 

 owing to the bright chestnut colouring of its 

 head and neck. This, with its black breast and 

 beautifully freckled grey back, make it a 

 handsome bird. It is somewhat heavily made, 

 swims low in the water, and from its legs being 

 placed far behind for diving it is awkward on 

 land. In winter the pochard is abundant on the 

 coast, but it is one of the shyest of fowl and is 



