382 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



THE COMMON SCOTER. 



01 DEM I A NIGRA. 

 Tunnag dubh. 



THIS bird, like the preceding species, is much commoner on the 

 eastern than on the western shores of Scotland. It is a very 

 marked object in all states of the weather, keeping well off the 

 land, and shifting constantly from one place to another in search 

 of good feeding ground. I have many times seen large flocks 

 of Scoters riding at their ease outside the line of breakers the 

 heaving blue waves lifting long lines of birds momentarily on their 

 crest, and showing their numbers to the watchful naturalist. They 

 appear to feed much more quietly than the long-tailed ducks, 

 with whom they often associate, more perhaps by accident than 

 design, and contrast strangely with these lively fellows as much 

 in deportment as in dress. Again, on rough days, when the waves 

 are rolling wildly in huge white masses on the sandy shores, the 

 black plumage of these birds, as they fly along the broken water, 

 comes out in fine relief, and with an effect almost as picturesque 

 as the snow-white gulls against a thunder cloud. 



Quoting from Mr William Dunbar, Mr A. G. More, whose 

 excellent contribution to the ' Ibis' on the birds breeding in 

 Scotland is a model of its kind, states that this Scoter " breeds 

 every year in many parts of the moors of Caithness, making its 

 nest in the boggy swamps around the lakes. He has known the eggs 

 taken more than once." Mr More likewise notices that a " black 

 duck " is well known as breeding in one or two lakes in the Thurso 

 district. Mr Elwes has written to me expressing his belief that 

 a few pairs nest every year on some of the hill lochs, and has 

 furnished me with the following notes: "The late Roualeyn 

 Gordon Gumming told me that he had two or three times shot the 

 bird off the nest in Inverness-shire, and I saw a forester this year 

 who said that a bird which he described as tunnag dubh evidently 

 the Scoter bred in the upper parts of Strathglass. I saw a young 

 bird, half grown, killed there in the beginning of September. 

 Caithness is also a very likely county for this bird to breed ; and if 

 it is proved to do so, I think this will account for the small parties 

 of Scoters seen every year in May and June on Windermere, and 

 for those which I have seen myself in July on the coast of Sussex." 



