146 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



The inland sportsman or decoy-man knows little 

 of the diving ducks. Some of them keep close to 

 land, but for the most part they are at home far out 

 at sea. It is interesting to watch parties of them 

 playing and chasing each other over the crests of the 

 waves, and seeming indifferent to the roughest 

 weather. The three scoters may be met with fifty 

 miles from land in loosely-floating flocks of thou- 

 sands. The common scoter is a winter visitant to 

 our coasts, sometimes coming in such numbers that 

 the waters between the eastern counties and Holland 

 seem covered with them. This also holds good with 

 regard to the west coast, where the scoters arrive in 

 July. They stay for some days on fresh water; 

 but, once launched on their winter haunt, it is not 

 unusual for a single fisherman to take half a cartload 

 in his " dowker " nets in a morning. The scoter is 

 entirely black; it dives remarkably well, and can 

 remain a long time under water. It feeds upon 

 mussels and other soft bivalves, following the 

 advancing tides shoreward in search of them. These 

 facts the fisherman notes, and works accordingly. 

 He marks where the birds feed, sees their borings and 

 stray feathers, and when the tide has ebbed spreads 

 his nets. These are attached by a peg at each corner, 

 and laid about fifteen inches above the sand. 

 Returning to feed with the tide, the ducks dive head 

 foremost into the nets and become hopelessly fast. 



