i82 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



or less mottled, and by the end of June they acquire a dress resembling or 

 approaching the adult, the female having a lighter or more chocolate-brown tint 

 than mature birds, and the males a greyer or duller look, and not the beautiful 

 glossy black of maturity. These summer flocks contain about an equal proportion 

 of males and females. In July I have, when yachting, seen flocks of old male 

 Scoters on the coast in the adult dress, and no females amongst them. 



Writing of the coast of Merionethshire, Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh says {in Hit.), 

 " The Scoter is a very abundant Duck and seen in large flocks all the year round. 

 Those that spend the summer are in adult plumage, though non-breeding birds. 

 The periods of migration are September and April, and during this latter month 

 large flocks, which I am convinced are of this species, pass over at night, and the 

 somewhat plover-like whistle of the male may be heard almost incessantly as flock 

 succeeds flock in rapid succession. The direction of flight is N. or N.E., and the 

 movement never begins till after dusk. They are called by the Welsh ' cwm 

 Ebril ' — dogs of April, from a supposed resemblance to the sound of dogs hunting, 

 and many will not believe the sound proceeds from birds. The Scoter never 

 enters the estuaries except in very rough weather, and then only single birds." 



The Scoter is a winter visitor to the Shetlands, but in very small numbers. 

 It is also a very rare bird in the Orkneys, and cannot be considered common 

 in the Outer Hebrides, and in the Inner Islands is said not to be uncommon 

 in the neighbourhood of Tiree, where it has probably bred.* The Black Scoter 

 is not rare on the eastern side of Scotland, it is plentiful at the mouth of 

 the Moray Firth, and in some numbers to the south, as far as the mouth of the 

 Tweed, more particularly ofi" the estuaries of the Tay and Forth, yet the numbers 

 are comparatively small when compared with the vast flocks of thousands which 

 congregate between both shores of the North Sea, south of Flamborough Head to 

 the chops of the Channel. 



The Common Scoter nests sparingly in several localities in Northern Scotland. 

 It is not known to nest anywhere in Ireland, but in winter is fairly abundant in 

 the north, about the great marine loughs and bays, but rare in the south of that 

 country. 



In very severe winters, when the Baltic is frozen, and the great bay of 

 Friesland, up to Sylt, a continuous field of pack ice, then the Scoter is seen by 

 myriads, both the Common and Velvet, ofi" Heligoland, and many are obtained 

 both by gun and nets, set near the islands in shallow water. 



* Mr. P. Anderson writes: "A pair of Common Scoters (CEdemia nigra) had a nest in Tiree this year. 

 . . . There were five young birds, and both old birds attended them." (Ann. Scottish Natural History, 1897, 

 P- 252)- 



