HABITS AND MIGRATIONS OP WILDFOWL. 7 



Northumberland was not liarticularly well adapted to their habits, 

 as they certainly never appear all through the winter months in 

 anything like large numbers. Little bunches of four or five are 

 occasionally met with, but thej' are never so numerous as are 

 Wigeon and Mallard. During ten days' shooting in October last 

 I never saw a Teal, while in September I saw them every day. 

 When in company they sometimes keep up a regular chorus as 

 they " chatter " to each other. Six Scaup Ducks arrived on the 

 coast on the 19th October last; previous to this date none had 

 been seen. 



I came across six Scaups, probably the same birds, early 

 in the morning of October 23rd. They were very tame, and 

 allowed the punt to come quite near them, when I secured 

 two of them. No. 1 was, from its general appearance, an adult 

 female. The beak was blue, with a black tip ; a black line ran 

 along the centre line of the upper mandible, and the edges of the 

 mandibles were also black. The whole of the head and neck was 

 brown, with the exception of the white face extending all round 

 the forehead, and reaching nearly as far as the eyes, which were 

 straw-yellow, as in an adult. The legs and feet were pale blue, 

 with the usual duskj'^ black marks on the joints of the toes. But 

 on close examination faint black bars might be seen, especially 

 about the ear-coverts and lower part of the neck, but these marks 

 were still hardly visible on the crown of the head. The upper 

 back was plain brown, and the breast was a mixture of very light 

 and very dark browns, but the edges of each of the latter feathers 

 were white. The stomach to vent was white. The flanks were 

 brown, but the edges and centres of these feathers were gradually 

 turning a fine silver-brindled grey. The back itself was brown, 

 each feather assuming a brindled grey colour. The primaries 

 were brown, with deep brown shafts ; secondaries white, but 

 tipped with black ; tertiaries and scapulars a deep bronze colour 

 with a fine sheen, the greater coverts being the same. The tail 

 was brown. Yet this bird on dissection proved a male. 



No. 2, which was a female containing five eggs large enough 

 to be detected with the naked eye, weighed 1 lb. 14 oz., and was 

 considerably smaller than the male. Two yellowish white spots 

 were conspicuous in this bird on either side of the head between 

 the beak and the eye, but this lightness of colour (the rest of the 

 head being buff brown) did not join over the upper mandible as 



