436 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



June or early in July. It appears to separate into pairs as soon 

 as the breeding grounds are reached, and the duck and drake 

 keep close company until the eggs are laid, after which the latter 

 leaves his mate to incubate them and to take all care of the brood. 

 The nest is made amongst scrub or coarse tundra vegetation, either 

 near a lake or river, or some dry part of the moor away from either. 

 The nest is merely a hollow, often under some small stunted 

 bush, into which a little dry grass, dead leaves, or other vegetable 

 refuse is placed, and finally lined with down and a few feathers 

 from the body of the female. The eggs are eight or nine in 

 number and pale grayish buif in colour, smooth, and with little 

 gloss. They measure on an average 2 '8 inches in length by 

 rg inch in breadth. Down tufts larger than those of the 

 Common Scoter, brown, with a slight tinge of gray, and with 

 indistinct pale centres. Only one brood appears to be reared 

 in the season. 



Diagnostic Characters.— (Nuptial plumage), Fuligula, with 

 the entire plumage black, shot with purple and green, except a 

 white alar speculum, and a small white spot behind the eye 

 (adult male); with the axillaries brown, with the under tail 

 coverts dark brown, with a white alar speculum, and with the bill 

 I "5 inch or more in length (adult female). Length, 21 to 22 

 inches. 



