190 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



and several others seen, in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Lilford in my recollection. I have an adult 

 male stuffed in my Northamptonshire collection, 

 killed by myself about 1850 ; with this and one other 

 exception, all the county specimens that I have seen 

 in hand have been birds of the year. The Scaup 

 generally visits our locality singly, I never met with 

 more than two together ; the earliest seasonal occur- 

 rence near Lilford with which I am acquainted was 

 that of a solitary young male shot by Mr. G. Hunt, 

 on October 8, 1880, during one of the highest floods 

 that I ever remember in the Nen valley. During the 

 later months of autumn, and throughout the winter, 

 many parts of our coasts are visited by large numbers 

 of Scaups, the habits of this species being more 

 exclusively marine than those of any other of the 

 British members of the genus Fuligula. The natural 

 food of the Scaup consists almost entirely during 

 the winter months of marine mollusca and certain 

 sea-weeds obtained by diving. This bird can remain 

 under water longer than the Pochard or the Tufted 

 Duck, and is a swift and powerful flyer, though 

 rather averse to taking wing unless hard pressed. 

 The flesh of this species is very coarse and rank in 

 flavour. Whilst writing this article, I am informed 

 by my decoyman that a pair of Scaups in adult 

 plumage dropped into the decoy with four Pochards, 

 in the early morning of October 22, 1890, but the 

 whole party left the pool at evening flight-time, and 

 did not re-^appear there. Although one or more 

 records of the nesting of the Scaup in Scotland have 

 been published on good authority, considerable doubt 

 exists as to the correct identification of the birds, and 

 I thiuk that I am justified in stating that no such 



