SCAUP POCHARD. 
139 
birds are compact and heavy, the wings compara- 
tively short, but sharp-pointed, and propelling the 
hird, when once fairly raised, by short, but rapid 
and often-repeated strokes. The body is broad and 
depressed, of a form fitted for buoyancy, hut at the 
same time, from its weight, sinking deep in the 
water when swimming. 
The scaup is a regular winter visitant to the 
coasts on the north of England and south of Scot- 
land, and from the testimony of most writers it is 
nearly equally so on both the southern and northern 
extremes of our island. It arrives about the end of 
October and continues with us till spring, frequent- 
ing the lower lying coasts of a soft or muddy cha- 
racter, and feeding on the smaller bivalves, which 
are generally found there in abundance. "We have 
seen this duck only on the sea, perhaps entering the 
mouth or estuary of some stream; but we have 
not observed it, during winter, to frequent fresh 
waters, either in the vicinity or at a distance from 
the shore. It is a shy and wary bird, assembling 
in flocks and feeding together ; at the same time, 
with a stormy wind, we have sometimes openly got 
within shot, while feeding in the mouths of the 
muddy creeks, with which the shores of the Sol- 
way Firth are in many parts intersected. It is 
brought abundantly to the Edinburgh markets du- 
ring winter. We are not aware of any instances of 
this pochard breeding in Britain, but in 1834 we 
shot a single specimen upon a small fresh water 
loch in Sutherlandshire, in the vicinity of the sea. 
