DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. 215 



and the timber contains plenty of holes. The 

 nest is usually made in a hollow tree, in a hole 

 in the trunk, or in a hollow branch, sometimes as 

 many as thirty feet from the ground ; whilst the 

 partiality of the bird for a tree near a waterfall, 

 or running stream, has been noticed by more than 

 one observer. The nest consists entirely of the 

 down plucked from the female's body. The ten 

 or twelve eggs are laid in May or June, and are 

 bright green in colour. The nest-hole is never 

 made by the Duck itself. The peasants of 

 Northern Scandinavia place hollow logs in suit- 

 able places on the tree-trunks, which the Golden- 

 Eyes appear readily to avail themselves of, and 

 from which the eggs and down are systematically 

 ,taken. The young are conveyed to the ground, 

 one by one, pressed between the female's bill and 

 her breast. The male is not known to assist in the 

 task of incubation, but may possibly do so. 



LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



This beautiful and remarkably elegant species, 

 the Anas glacialis of Linnaeus, and the Fuligula 

 or Harelda glacialis of modern writers, is another 

 winter visitor to the British seas. It is only of 

 somewhat rare occurrence in our southern waters, 

 but northwards, off the Scotch coasts, it becomes 

 more frequent, and in certain localities notably the 

 Hebrides, and the Orkneys and Shetlands even 

 abundant. In the latter islands it is locally known 



