214 
Scotland, England, Holland,* France, &c. 
On the northern coast of the latter King- 
dom prodigious numbers are attracted by 
beds of a certain kind of bivalve shell-fish, 
which abound in those parts, and of which 
they are particularly fond, for they are 
almost incessantly diving for them, fre- 
quently to the depth of some fathoms. 
The fishermen at low water spread long 
nets over these beds supported horizontally 
two or three feet from the sand, these are 
covered by the overflowing tide, which 
also brings the Scoters within their accus- 
tomed distance from the beach. As soon 
as one bird dives the whole flock follow 
the example, and emerges a few moments, 
after, appearing and disappearing on the 
water evey minute, numbers are entangled 
in the meshes of the nets. By this method 
from twenty to thirty dozen have been taken 
in a single tide. In a religious point of view 
these birds are not esteemed Jlesh, but Jish x 
* Temminck observes that " the Scoter, the Velvet 
Duck and a few other species cover in autumn all the 
margin of the sea on the coast of Holland, and is 
equally numerous on the waters of the interior. 
