140 
ANATIM. 
pond, she may have come with other visitors, as the tufted duck 
and mallard, wild birds of which regularly take up their residence 
on the pond in winter/'’ 
The scaup is not approved of as food on either side of the At- 
lantic. Mr. Selby remarks, that “ its flesh is rather rank and 
fishy” (p. 355); and Audubon characterizes it in similar terms. 
In Belfast, this bird is not esteemed, and the fowler sometimes 
cannot find a purchaser for it. 
Montagu's remark (in his c Supplement '), that the scaup is 
“ rarely observed upon fresh-water,” is applicable to the north of 
Ireland. It has not been brought to me from Lough Neagh, 
nor have I known it to be killed at any inland localities, though 
no doubt such rarely does occur. A small flock, — among which 
were several adult males, — was observed on Ballydrain Lake, on the 
2nd of April, 1848.* It is said occasionally to visit Lough Beg, 
in Kerry, as well as the pochard.f I w r as told by the chief hawker 
of wild-fowl in Dublin, in December 1849, that he had never 
received it from inland waters, though nearly all the wild-fowl he 
disposes of are sent thence. In America, Wilson believes the 
scaup to be strictly a marine species ; but Audubon met with it 
commonly on the rivers and lakes in the western parts of the 
United States. J This bird frequents suitable localities around 
the Irish coast; is noticed as rare in the north-west of Donegal, § 
as met with on the coast of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, 
Kerry, on which last it is considered to be very common, || and has 
been obtained at Achil.^f 
The scaup duck appears to be about equally frequent in Ireland 
as it is described to be in England and the south of Scotland. 
The American Scaup Duck ( \~Fuligula mariloides , Vigors), about 
the specific distinction of which from the common scaup, ornithologists 
are not generally agreed, has a place in the British catalogue, from the 
circumstance of a single individual having been purchased in London 
market. Its name indicates the abode of this bird ; — the European 
scaup duck is common on the coasts of North America. 
* Mr. Darragh. t Mr. R. Chute. $ Vol. iii. p. 226. 
§ Mr. J. V. Stewart. || Mr. T. F. Neligan. Lieut. Reynolds, R.N. 
