LONG-TAILED DUCK 359 



"Garrots," the Scoters or the Eiders. The body is round, but there is the slim 

 neck and small aristocratic-looking head which differ decidedly from those of all the 

 other sea ducks. 



These ducks migrate in large flocks and their journeys overland must be per- 

 formed entirely at night. Flocks of a hundred or more are common, but when settled 

 on their feeding grounds they usually break up into groups of a dozen or fifteen. 



I have never seen flocks "tower" high in the air in the manner described by Mac- 

 kay. He noticed this habit both in the spring and in the autumn, when the birds 

 would collect in large flocks in calm, mild weather, going up in circles so high as to 

 be hardly visible, often coming down with tremendous velocity and a noise of wings 

 audible at a great distance. Mackay once saw the arrival of a large migrating flock, 

 flying very high, which on reaching its chosen destination circled around three or 

 four times before alighting; the birds then, after remaining together for about an 

 hour or so, broke up into groups of a dozen or more. 



Association with other Species. Although gregarious these ducks are very 

 independent of other water-fowl and even when their feeding grounds are occupied 

 by Scaups, Eiders and Scoters they keep aloof and by themselves. Even single mi- 

 grants are apt to journey by themselves. Saxby (1874) remarked on their dislike for 

 the company of Cormorants, and says they desert their usual haunts when Cor- 

 morants come in to feed on the young of the coal-fish in the Shetlands. 



Faber (1822), the earliest writer on the bird fauna of Iceland, says the Long-tails 

 will often drive Scaups off their nests and lay their own eggs in them, after which 

 they incubate the joint clutch. Other observers have noted that in Iceland they nest 

 side by side with the Scaup, and Shepard (in Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1S84) 

 found one joint nest on which a Long-tail and a Scaup were both incubating. H. J. 

 and C. E. Pearson (1895) found Goosander's eggs in the nest of a Long-tail. 



Voice. Probably more ink has been devoted to attempts at describing the voice 

 of the male, than is the case with any other duck. Were I to invent a new series of 

 sounds I should not come any closer than the rest, for one must go to the coast one's 

 self on some calm morning in March to get any real idea of it, and the journey will 

 not be in vain if there are any birds within a mile or so. 



I do not know whether this bird's courtship song, for such it really is, has musical 

 merit or not. To a lover of Nature most natural sounds are musical, or at any rate 

 pleasing to the ear, and this one is no exception. It ranks, perhaps, with the spring 

 song of the Ring-necked Teal as about the best performance among the ducks. 

 Some of the Long-tail's many names, like South-south-southerly, Coc-caw-wee, 

 Coul-au-coule-licht, suggest the several syllables of the call. The Alaskan Eskimo 

 name, Ad-le-guk-lu-luk is rather suggestive. The noise from a group of males has 



