LONG-TAILED DUCK. 357 



Mr. Robert Dunn, in his useful little book, says, " this 

 species, which is there called ' Calico/ is very plentiful 

 both in Orkney and Shetland, arriving about the middle 

 of October, and departing again in March. It is to be 

 met with in all the inlets or voes, generally in large flocks, 

 never far from the land, feeding upon small shell-fish and 

 star-fish. When on the wing it utters a musical cry, 

 something like ' calloo,' which may be heard to a great 

 distance ; from this cry it derives its provincial name." 



The Long-tailed Duck is well known in Denmark, and 

 among its numerous islands. Mr. W. C. Hewitson, in 

 his work on the eggs of our British Birds, says, " we 

 met with many whilst in Norway ; and although those 

 which we shot and dissected had every appearance of 

 being shortly about to breed, yet they were always in 

 flocks, roving from place to place, and apparently un- 

 attached to any particular spot; sometimes sweeping 

 past, within a few yards of us, with great rapidity, 

 uttering their strikingly-wild and most interesting cries. 

 Several eggs of this bird were brought home by the 

 officers of the Arctic expeditions; for the one figured 

 I am indebted to the liberality of my friend, Mr. G. C. 

 Atkinson, who, during an excursion in Iceland, had the 

 good fortune to meet with a nest of the Long-tailed 

 Duck ; it was placed near the margin of a small lake, 

 and lined with the down of the female ; the eggs were 

 six in number, but would most probably have been in- 

 creased to ten or twelve, the usual number of this tribe 

 of birds.'' 1 Mr. Procter, who also visited Ireland, sent 

 me word that he found this Duck rather common there, 

 making its nest generally among low bushes, by the 

 edge of the fresh- water ; the nest, composed of a few 

 stems of grass, and well lined with down ; the eggs, 



