174 Notes on Wild-Foivl in the [Sess. 



the islands, and were delighted to find the nest of a tufted 

 duck. We jumped to the conclusion that this was the result 

 of our artificial hatching years before, but whether this was 

 so or not it is impossible to say. The tufted duck is a 

 winter visitor, constantly frequenting Duddingston Loch, and 

 almost every sheet of water of any size. In severe winters 

 they are sometimes hard pressed. I think it was in 1895 

 that the late Mr Black sent for me to go up and see his 

 ducks on the reservoir at Alnwick Hill. It was mostly 

 frozen over, but a large number of the ducks in question 

 had a small part kept open, and so tame were they, no 

 doubt because of hunger, that they allowed us within twenty 

 yards of them. I have seen them in the Braid Burn when 

 Duddingston was frozen over. The tufted duek is of no 

 value. It is not edible, at least I could not eat it, and I 

 found that birds of prey did not care for it unless pressed by 

 hunger. There is no object in preserving it. Great numbers 

 come every winter, and they devour the food that would feed 

 other birds more useful to man. I have dissected them, and 

 have found they are partly vegetarians, though I discovered 

 small shell-fish and other mollusca. I have known others 

 rear tufted ducks, and many of the members will recollect 

 about twenty-four or twenty-five years ago the late Mr 

 Herbert exhibited to this Society a pair of birds he had 

 reared. He had them pinioned in his garden, and the follow- 

 ing year the birds showed no indication of nesting. Probably 

 they do not breed till fully matured. 



Strange as it may appear, the above remarks apply also to 

 the shelduck. It was on Eynhallow, an uninhabited island 

 of the Orcadian archipelago, that I saw a lot of shel- 

 drakes. I shot some fine specimens of the long-tailed duck, 

 which I sent to the Museum. I did not manage, however, to 

 get within range of a sheldrake, but at my request the factor 

 on the estate sent me a clutch of eggs of the shelduck. I 

 am not sure if they came from Eynhallow or Hoy, both 

 islands belonging to the same proprietor. I sent them to a 

 keeper to hatch and rear for an ornamental pond. 



I have seen both the pochard and the scaup stay all 

 summer on Duddingston Loch, but they had the point of a 

 wing injured by shot, and could only fly half the length of 



