214 BRITISH BIRDS. 



under wing, to be indistinguishable. In certain lights 

 the grey feathers on the back of the male Scaup do not 

 show up well, so that these birds can easily be missed 

 when in company with Tufted Ducks. We waded to 

 all the islands, but to no purpose. On the next day, 

 June 5th, we were rewarded by the sight of two pairs, 

 the drakes in each instance floating lazily about, fast 

 asleep, with one leg cocked up in the air, as I have 

 depicted in Fig. 2. No more evidence was forthcoming 

 till the 9th, when I explored a loch famous for its trout 

 and the variety of its bird-life. I was lying for no less 

 than four hours at a stretch on a small islet some twenty 

 feet in diameter, when I became aware that I was being 

 watched by a pair of Scaups, every bit as carefully as I 

 myself was watching some Black-headed Gulls. The duck 

 appeared to be very anxious, and was swimming about, 

 evidently on the qui vive, in the neighbourhood of another 

 rocky islet, while her mate varied his vigil with an 

 occasional " forty winks," the temptation for which he 

 seemed unable to resist. A search was made, and to my 

 surprise I found that for four hours I had unconsciously 

 been lying within six feet of a duck's nest, to all appear- 

 ance the very one I was in quest of. It was placed under 

 a boulder, was lined with dark brown down, and contained 

 nine olive-green eggs, which were not covered up. Owing 

 to the trampled-down condition of the surrounding 

 vegetation I had grave doubts as to whether the bird 

 would return. Consequently I retired to another island 

 some quarter-mile away and kept watch. Soon I saw 

 the Scaup duck swim behind the island and disappear, 

 so I resolved not to disturb her, but to return on the 

 following Monday, the 11th, with Kinnear. 



When the day arrived we rowed up to the island with 

 very anxious hearts. A brown duck flew off, scuttled 

 along the water, and settled in a distant part of the loch, 

 where she was soon joined by an undoubted Tufted 

 drake ! ! ! So a further search was made ; on the next 

 island, only some three hundred yards away, a Shoveler's 



