The Common Scoter 63 
so often on the portions of the lough frequented by the birds, that it is unlikely a second male would 
have escaped my notice. 
" For obvious reasons I do not give the name of the lough which these Scoters have frequented for 
five consecutive summers." 
The males seem to desert the females as soon as they begin to sit, and to form into 
small parties in the centre of the lakes. Early in August, or even in July, they leave for the 
coast, where they remain until migration commences. Little seems to be known of the food 
of the young in down, but it is probably similar to that of other Diving Ducks bred in 
fresh water. 
In the entrails of this species occur Strongylus uncinatus, Strongylus nodularis, 
Strongyhis acutus, Distomum constrictum, Distommn oxyitrMm, Monostoimim mtdabile, 
Holostonmm gracile, Holostomuin anatis nigrae, Taenia microsoma, Taenia levis, Strongylus 
nwnodon. {Naturgesch. Vdgel Mitleleuropas, x. p. 249.) 
As already stated. Common Scoter are very shy and difficult to approach in a sailing 
boat ; but they may be killed by towing the double-handed punt to sea on fine days and 
" setting to " in the usual manner. They will sometimes sit to within shot of a small motor- 
boat, whose speed they seem unable to gauge correctly. Not being of any commercial value, 
but few Common Scoters are killed by net or gun on the British coasts ; but in the Baltic, 
Heligoland, and on the coasts of France and Holland, large numbers are captured by means 
of large square nets stretched horizontally just under the water. These are set in quiet 
places where this and other species congregate. As the birds proceed in feeding they often 
come up under these nets, and are caught by the neck and drowned. The flesh of this 
species is rank and uneatable. Mr. Franklyn, who has shot ducks for many years both on 
the east and west coasts of North America, tells us that Scoters are amongst the easiest of 
sea-ducks to decoy, and that almost any dark object will bring the ducks within gunshot. 
He has used a string of black bladders with much success. 
All those who have tried to keep this species in confinement have had to admit a failure 
to keep them in good health for any long period. I am indebted to Mr. A. F. Moody for 
the following note of two (an immature male and female which I saw at Scampston on 
May I, 1912). His remarks with regard to the greed and jealousy of the species at feeding 
hours bear out the experience of other aviculturists. He says : 
" This very common and rather unprepossessing Sea Duck is, I believe, not very popular in confine- 
ment ; in fact, it appears to be a species that deteriorates very quickly in the middle-men's hands, that is, 
if kept from water, and we have experienced the greatest difficulty in procuring any but birds whose 
feathers had lost their bloom and whose bodies could scarcely be considered sound. Also I am informed, 
by a water-fowl breeder of great experience who has tried them, that the Scoter, although doing well up 
to a certain period, is naturally a very difficult subject to moult in captivity. 
" Our own experience, apart from half a dozen more or less unsound and reduced examples which 
lived for a few weeks, days, or months, has been chiefly confined to a pair which some years ago moulted 
their primary feathers, and through an oversight in not pinioning them escaped, and with an immature 
pair which we have possessed for the past five months (since January 4th of the present year 191 1). 
Regarding the habits of this latter pair, the male, although daily improving, is still hardly sufficiently 
advanced in the moult to be at home upon the water.' The female, however, like all other Scoters 
^ Such examples, owing to the cold water reaching their bodies, cannot remain long in the water; and we find are apparently- 
best treated by a stimulating diet and allowing them to sit (in bad cases upon dry wheat straw beneath a temporary shed or shelter) 
in a sheltered situation by the side of a fairly deep pool. The male in question was not water-proof even by December, when it 
was fed on a diet of cod-liver oil (4 tablespoonful daily) with the meal. 
