506 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



as the 24th of May, and adds that a labourer 

 employed on the embankments on the coast assured 

 him he had seen a pair of Scaups and their young 

 about that same place every year, but, as Mr. Cor- 

 deaux adds, such information is not always to be 

 trusted. There seems to be one instance recorded 

 of this bird breeding in the North of Scotland, Mr. 

 Selby having found a female bird and a young one 

 on a small loch in Sutherland.* The nest is said to 

 be generally placed amongst aquatic herbage or large 

 stones, near the edge of fresh water: little or no 

 nest is made, but the eggs are covered with a quan- 

 tity of down.f 



The Scaup Duck is an expert swimmer and 

 diver, and, like the Scoter, a wounded bird will 

 occasionally give one a long row before it can be 

 brought into the boat. It seeks its food for the most 

 part under water : this consists of small fish, shell- 

 fish, small crabs and mussels, aquatic insects and 

 marine plants ; it is consequently not particularly 

 good eating. It is easily tamed and kept in confine- 

 ment, and may be fed on seeds and grain, like other 

 wild-fowl. I do not think it has been known to 

 breed in confinement. 



In its general appearance the Scaup Duck, at a 

 little distance, is like a Pochard, with a black instead 



* 'Zoologist' for 1867 (Second Series, p. 878), 

 f Yarrell, vol. in., p. 340. 



