

THE SCAUP DUCK 19 



depressed, suggesting an organ of prodigious glut- 

 tony. Strange to say, this lateral dilation of the 

 bill takes place during the growth of the young 

 birds, which are hatched with mandibles of the 

 moderate proportions of other surface-feeding ducks. 

 The shoveller never goes in large flights, but is seen 

 either in pairs or in little bands of less than a dozen. 

 It is said to be more of a fresh-water than a marine 

 fowl; and it is remarkable that, although it is 

 widely distributed over the northern parts of both 

 old and new worlds, Herr Gatke, in the course of 

 fifty years' experience, only once knew of its occur- 

 rence in Heligoland. 



VI 



The scaup duck (Fuligula marila) is stated by 

 all authorities to be almost exclusively The Scaup 

 marine in its habits, rarely visiting in- Duck 

 land waters. Nevertheless, there is generally a pair 

 or two on the White Loch in winter ; and I am in- 

 clined to think observers are apt to mistake this 

 bird for the tufted duck, with which it usually 

 consorts, and closely resembles on the water at a 

 distance. The male bird shows black and white, 

 like the tufted drake, and it is only through the 



