120 APPENDIX. 



thin and slightly formed, but well lined with down, and the eggs seem to be 

 six, seven, or eight in number, They are of a pale buff colour, and sensibly 

 less in size than those of the Pochard last named. 



262. TUFTED DUCK. 



This little Duck is known to breed near the head of the Bothnian Gulf, as 

 well as in other parts of Sweden, and in Lapland and Russia. A few pairs 

 also are seen nesting in Holland. It makes a very slight nest of grasses and 

 the like. The eggs are seven or eight to ten in number, very similar in 

 shade to those of the Scaup Duck last mentioned, but much less in size 

 being only a little over 2 inches long, by less than H in breadth. 



263. LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



It is known to breed in Iceland, and believed to do so in Norway. It 

 makes its nest among low brushwood and the herbage usual at or near the 

 margin of fresh water. A few stems of grass form the substructure, on which 

 is placed a plentiful lining of down. The eggs are from six to twelve in 

 luimber. They are of yellowish-white, just tinged with green, and nearly 

 2$ inches long bv H in breadth. 



265. GOLDEN EYE. 



This Duck seems to prefer wooded or forest districts for nesting in. It 

 breeds in Lapland, Sweden and Norway, and has such a strong liking for a 

 hole in a tree to nest in, that if suitable boxes with an adequate entrance- 

 hole are placed on the trees growing on the banks of streams or lakes fre- 

 quented by them, their eggs are sure to be deposited therein, to the great 

 profit of those who suspend the boxes. Of course when it is known that a Duck 

 hatches its young in a hole in a tree, the question must suggest itself as i & 

 did to the original observer in the case of the Wild Ducks' nest on a pollard, 

 or in a Fir-tree How can the young Ducks ever be got down safely, and still 

 more, finally launched on their proper element ? An observed habit of the 

 Golden Eye answers this question. A Lap clergyman saw the parent bird 

 conveying its young, to the number of five or more, but one at a time, from 

 the nest to the water, and he was at last able to " make out that the youn ' 

 bird was held under the bill, but supported by the neck of the parent." Th<: 

 eggs of the Golden Eye are said to be ten or twelve or even more in numbt r, 

 and of a brighter colour than is usual with the eggs of the Duck tribe, being 

 of a rather decided green colour. 



267. SMEW. 



But little that is quite authentic seems to be known of the nesting habii s 

 of this little Duck ; nor is it certainly ascertained where its chief numbers 

 retire to breed. The eggs are said to be eight or ten in number, or even 

 more than that, and to be of a yellowish white colour. 



276. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 



This bird breeds on the Faroe Islands, and on some of the lakes in Ice- 

 land; as also on some of the islands of Finmark. Spitzbergen and Greenland 

 are also named as the breeding resort of many of these Divers. They lay, it 

 is supposed, two eggs each, though in some observed instances only one.was 

 to be seen. Mr. Audubon says that three are sometimes laid. They are of 

 a dark olive-brown, with a few spots of dark umber brown, and are of con- 

 siderable size. 



283. LITTLE AUK. 



This little wave-dweller has its nesting home in countries far more to tho 

 North than ours. It abounds on some parts of the Greenland shores, and it 

 is also met with, but much more sparingly, in Iceland. It makes no nest, 

 but lays its one egg on the ground amongst or possibly beneath the large 

 rock-masses which encumber the shore after falling from the overhanging 

 cliffs and precipices. The parent birds are exceedingly averse to leave their 

 egg when incubation has commenced, and like some other species already 

 mentioned will rather suffer themselves to be removed by the hand. Tli . 

 egg is white lightly tinged with blue, a little spotted and veined with rust- 

 colour. 



