140 
SCAUP POCHARD. 
This loch was fringed with rank aquatic herbage, 
and might have been a fitting place for its incuba- 
tion ; and when first discovered at a distance, and 
seen by the assistance of a glass to be a scaup, a 
young one was observed swimming with it, yet we 
could not afterwards trace it ; we can scarcely say 
with certainty that it had bred where it was dis- 
covered and shot. We thought it probable that it 
had been a bird detained, and unable to migrate, 
by some wound or hurt ; but none was visible, and, 
when skinned, it appeared to be in good and healthy 
condition. They breed in Scandinavia and in Ice- 
land, by the sides of the fresh-water lakes, Mr. 
Procter of Durham procured the eggs from the latter 
locality, one of which has been figured by Mr. 
Hewitson in his Oology. With the exception of 
North America, we do not know of any extra- 
European range. By Audubon the scaup is said to 
be met with on the Atlantic coast from the Gulf of 
Mexico to the Bay of Fundy ; it is also found in 
the larger rivers, the Ohio, Missouri, Mississippi. 
The male in full-plumage is a showy bird ; the 
bill is a bright bluish grey, with a black nail ; the 
head and neck blackish green, with glossy green 
and purple reflections, the plumage full, and of a 
silky texture ; the lower part of the neck and breast 
are deep black, belly and flanks white, the vent 
waved with narrow lines of blackish grey ; the 
mantle and scapulary feathers, contrasting with the 
other dark plumage, are clear greyish white, strongly 
marked with wavy zigzag lines; quills black, se- 
