SCOTER. 
421 
NAT A TORES. 
AN ATI DTE. 
SCOTER. 
OlDEMIA NIGRA. 
PLATE CXVI. FIG. I. 
In describing the habits of the geese and ducks during 
the time of incubation, I am glad to have recourse to the 
information of others, not having myself enjoyed the plea¬ 
sure of following them to their places of resort in the far 
north. In the part of Norway which we visited, extend¬ 
ing along the coast from Drontheim to within the arctic 
circle, although we saw many species of the duck-tribe, 
and this amongst the rest, they were almost always in 
small flocks, and apparently, like ourselves, roving from 
place to place. Mr. Proctor, to whom we are indebted 
for most of the eggs of the Scoter in our collections, tells 
me that they are thinly dispersed over Iceland, where he 
only succeeded in finding two of their nests, which were 
formed of grass and aquatic plants, lined with down, and 
contained the one four and the other six eggs. M. Tiene- 
mann says that it builds its nest near the margin of lakes 
and rivers, often far inland, placing it amongst brushwood 
on stony ground, and forming it of grass, stalks of angelica, 
and leaves of willow, thickly lined with down, in which 
it lays about ten eggs. Mr. Dann, speaking of Scandinavia, 
has supplied the following note to the British Birds of 
Mr. Yarrell:—“This duck frequents the same places, and 
