The Long-Tailed Duck. i^s 



He further says : — " they are of a very lively and restless disposition, contin- 

 ually rising on the wing, flying round and round in circles, chasing one another, 

 squattering about the surface, half flying, half swimming, accompanying all these 

 gambols with their curious cries. When the storms are at their loudest, and the 

 waves running mountains high, then their glee seems to reach its highest pitch, 

 and they appear thoroughly to enjoy the confusion. When watching them on one 

 of these occasions, I had to take shelter under a rock from a dreadful blast, accom- 

 panied by very heavy snow, which in a moment blotted out the whole landscape ; 

 everything was enveloped in a shroud of mist and driving sleet ; but from the 

 midst of the intense gloom there arose the triumphant song of these wild creatures 

 rising above the uproar of the elements ; and when the mist lifted I beheld the 

 whole flock careering about the bay as if mad with delight." 



The late Henry L. Saxby, whose account (" Birds of Shetland ") of the Long- 

 tailed Duck is probably the best that has been written, mentions a curious fact in 

 connection with them, namely — their antipathy to the Shag or Green Cormorant. 

 When these enter the voes after the sillacks, the young of the Coal-fish, their 

 presence drives the Ducks away, and they do not return to their former haunts 

 till the Shags have departed. On one occasion he was witness to a flock of these 

 Ducks being greatly alarmed by the presence of a grampus, finally, on the monster 

 approaching, they took wing and flew completely away from the voe. 



This Duck carries its restless habits on migration and after it has arrived in 

 its breeding quarter. Wheelwright ("A Spring and Summer in Lapland") saw 

 them on the Tana river and the fell lakes in May, and says they were never still, but 

 continually chasing each other about, all the time uttering their pleasing note. 



The Messrs. Pearson found the Long-tailed Duck nesting in Iceland from 

 June 2oth to July i8th, in 1894, most of the nests being on islands. On one 

 occasion on a bare hill-side of black sand, with no material except down, the black 

 colour of which was a perfect protection when the eggs were covered (" Ibis," 

 95. 244).* 



When on the sea these Ducks — that is the male — carries his long tail erect, 

 like the stern ports of a Norwegian jsegt, but in flight the tail is often much 

 depressed. 



During their stay on the east coast I do not think they ever come inland to 

 feed. I have never shot it at "flight" but once, and in this instance it may have 

 been passing from the open sea to feed within the estuary of the Humber. 



* A nest foiiud by Mr. A. Trevor-Battye, in Kolguev, where it is conmioii, was some distance from the 

 water, and remarkably deep and neat ; all of down, with a very little dead grass and birch leaves ; the eggs M-ere 

 six, and slightl}- incubated. 



