p. H. BAHR: THE SCAUP-DUCK IN SCOTLAND. 217 



eggs were hard set, and the young were within three 

 days of hatching. 



That same evening we saw five more Scaup-Ducks, 

 two drakes and three ducks, on a sea-loch. Towards 

 the end of the same month another nest was found by 

 the keeper on the same loch. In 1907 I returned, and 

 though I searched every hkely situation, no trace of a 

 Scaup was seen. The same hollow contained the nest of 

 a Tufted Duck* (Fig. 4), from which the old bird was 

 disturbed on three occasions and identified ; it contained 

 nine eggs, and was to all intents and purposes exactly 

 similar to the Scaup's of the year before. There was also 

 a Shoveler's nest in exactly the same position. It is 

 significant that the nests of these three species should 

 be found on contiguous islands, where, not so many years 

 ago, they were unknown. 



Though essentially a circumpolar species, the Scaup- 

 Duck has been recorded as nesting in north Germany, 

 once by Baldamus in Anhalt, and twice by Blasius in 

 ponds near Brunswick. t 



* Cf. "Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist.," 1907, p. 213. 



f Rudolf Blasius, "Nauniann, Naturgesch. V. Mitteleurop.," newed., 

 1896-1904, Vol. X.. p. 153; Howard Saunders, "Man. B.B.." 1899, 

 p 449. 



