194 THE SCAUP DUCK 



wait by night, armed with guns of various calibre, for the chance 

 of securing in one or two Ducks the substitute for a day's wages. 



They are variously known in different places by the name of 

 Pochards, Pokers, Dunbirds, and Red-Eyed Pochards. On some 

 parts of the coast of Norfolk I found that they are included with the 

 Wigeon under the common name of ' Smee-Duck'. 



The Pochard builds its nest among reeds, in Russia, Denmark, 

 and the north of Germany, and lays twelve or thirteen eggs. 



The Red-crested is a different species from the ' Red-headed.' 



THE TUFTED DUCK 



FULfGULA CRISTATA 



Feathers on the back of the head elongated ; head, neck, breast, and upper 

 plumage black, with purple, green, and bronze reflections ; speculum and 

 under plumage white, except the abdomen, which is dusky ; bill blue, nail 

 black ; irides bright yellow ; feet bluish, with black membranes. Female 

 — smaller, the crest shorter ; upper plumage dull black, clouded with 

 brown ; under plumage reddish white, spotted on the breast and flanks 

 with reddish brown. Length seventeen inches. Eggs greenish white 

 spotted with light brown. 



The points of difference in habit between this and the' preceding 

 species are so few that it is scarcely necessary to say more than 

 that it is a regular winter visitor to the British Isles, and is distri- 

 buted, generally in small flocks, never alone, over our lakes and 

 marshes, arriving in October and taking its departure in March or 

 April. Its food is less exclusively of a fishy nature than that of the 

 Scaup Duck, consequently its flesh is more palatable, being, in the 

 estimation of French gastronomists, un roti parfait. The Tufted 

 Duck now breeds in a good many districts here. 



THE SCAUP DUCK 



FULIGULA MARfLA 



Head and upper part of the neck black, with green reflections ; breast and 

 rump black ; back and scapulars whitish, marked with numerous fine 

 wavy black lines ; belly, flanks, and speculum, white ; bill blue, the nail 

 and edges black ; irides bright yellow ; feet ash-grey, with dusky mem- 

 branes. Female — a broad whitish band round the base of the bill ; head 

 and neck dusky brown ; breast and rump dark brown ; back marked 

 with fine wavy lines of black and white ; flanks spotted and pencilled 

 with brown, irides dull yellow. Length twenty inches. Eggs clay- 

 buff. 



The Scaup is so called from its feeding on ' scaup', a northern word 

 for a bed of shellfish. 1 It is a northern bird, arriving on our coasts 

 in October and November, and remaining with us till the following 



i ' Avis haec the Scaup Duck dicta est quoniam scalpam, i.e. pisces testa- 

 ceos fractos seu contritos, esitat.' — Willughby, p. 279. 



