SCAUP POCHARDS. 
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back and breast, and hind part of the back, are black ; 
the wing coverts greyish white, with dusky undulations ; 
the breast and sides, with the outer wing feathers, are 
white ; the under parts are dusky ; tail brownish grey. 
SCAUP DUCK. 
The Scaup Pochards, as these birds are often caned, 
arrive on our coasts about the end of October, and con- 
tinue to increase in numbers until the middle of the 
winter. They are most plentiful in the estuaries and along 
the flat shores, where they are sometimes met with in 
large flocks. 
Macgillivray says that this bird is very rarely met with 
in fresh water, its food consisting chiefly of marine testa- 
ceous mollusca, for which it dives like the Scoters, often 
mingling with them and other species. Its flight is mode- 
rately quick, usually performed at no great height above 
the water, on which it alights abruptly on its hind part. 
Although it runs without difliculty, it usually prefers diving 
to escape pursuit ; and so expert is it in this act, that it is 
very difficult to shoot it in the water. It swims strongly, 
sitting rather deep, and in diving remains long before it 
emerges. Montagu states that both male and female have 
a habit of tossing up their heads and opening their bills, 
wliich in spring is continued for a considerable time, while 
