The Golden-eyed Garrot.

Fig. 88.—Shooting over Decoy Ducks.

There are numerous instances proving that Wild Ducks are susceptible of attachment to man, and it is certain that they can be easily tamed. They also breed readily with the Domestic Duck; and the crossed birds thus produced are said to have an excellent flavour, and to fatten with facility. Mr. St. John, in his "Wild Sports in the Highlands," remarks that he has frequently caught and brought home young Wild Ducks. "If confined in a yard with tame birds for a week or two, they strike up a companionship which keeps them from wandering when set at liberty. Some years ago I brought home three, two of which turned out to be Drakes. I sent away my tame Ducks, and the next season I had a large family of half-bred and wholly Wild Ducks, as the tame and wild bred together quite freely. The Wild Ducks which have been caught turned out the tamest of all,—throwing off all shyness, they follow their feeder, and will eat corn out of the hand of any one they know; while the half-bred birds are inclined to take wing and fly away for the purpose of making their nests at a distance."

Fig. 89.—Open Duck-shooting.

The flesh of the Wild Duck is much esteemed. But they are birds which are very difficult to approach, in consequence of their suspicious nature; and in order to get even a long shot at them,it is necessary to have recourse to stratagem. Even when successful in your aim, the shot often fails to penetrate, owing to the thick layers of their downy covering. Various artifices, therefore, are employed to lure them, all of which require some cleverness. They are shot from a watching-place, being seduced to its neighbourhood by employing Domestic Ducks which act as decoys (Fig. 88). They are also shot from huts on the edge of the water. Sometimes they are attracted by means of lights, or by imitating their call. Many are taken in nets, in decoy-weirs, and in snares; they are sometimes even taken by means of baited fish-hooks, and many other strange contrivances.

The ordinary open Duck-shooting, as represented inFig. 89, is far from being so productive as some of the former methods, but it is much more attractive. No sport is more uncertain, but occasionally none is more fruitful, or more full of unexpected successes.

Duck-shooting from a hut, as represented inFig. 90, is the method most practised. The sportsmen are hidden in a small hut placed on the edge of some lake or river, or it may be erected in the middle of the water on a heap of stones. Here they lie in wait for the birds in order to get a close shot at them. They generally use fowling-pieces of great length and large calibre, called Duck-guns. Shooting from Duck punts is also practised all round the coast, and on the larger lakes, ponds, and estuaries.

On the Saône, the gunners, accompanied by a boatman, take their places in a long, light, narrow, pointed boat, or punt, called afourquette. The two men, lying down in the bottom of the boat, are hidden by faggots placed in front of them, the muzzle of the duck-gun protruding through the faggots. Thus floating down the river among the Ducks, they get an opportunity of shooting them without being perceived. Sportsmen in France sometimes employ a very odd artifice to baffle the suspicious instinct of these birds: a man disguises himself as a cow by means of an outline of the animal roughly made of common cardboard. Under favour of this disguise he gets near the Wild Ducks without exciting their fears, if only aware how to make good use of his device; that is, if he describes gentle and graceful curves, so as to advance gradually without alarming the timid Palmipedes. But this sport, though productive enough when skilfully managed,is not unattended with danger. A sportsman, who had dressed himself up in this disguise, happened inadvertently to find his way among a herd of cattle, which, detecting the imposture, immediately ran at him and chased him about the meadow. He thought himself fortunate in escaping with the loss of his disguise, which he abandoned to the fury of his horned assailants.

Fig. 90.—Duck-shooting from a Hut.

Large numbers of Ducks are taken by means of nets and various snares, which want of space prevents us from here enumerating.

The Domestic Duck,Anas domestica, is a descendant of the Wild Duck, or, as some think, of the Shoveller. The first tame Duck, the ancestor of a family since so prodigiously multiplied, probably proceeded from an egg which had been taken from some reedy marsh, and hatched under a Hen.

The Duck, however, has been reduced to a state of domesticity from a very remote period, and has been of incalculable utility to mankind, filling in our poultry-yards no unworthy place. Ducks' eggs are a wholesome and agreeable article of food, and the flesh of the bird itself is most savoury. Epicures highly prized, and rightly so, thepâtés de foie de canardof Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nérac, and Amiens (we arrange them here in their order of merit, not according to Baron Brisse'sdictum, but following our own poor gastronomic capabilities). Their feathers, although not so valuable as those of the Goose, are articles of considerable importance in commerce.

Ducks produce large profits to those who rear them. They are by no means choice in their food. Nothing comes amiss to their palate; the corn scattered about the yard which is disdained by other fowls, and the meanest remnants of the leavings of the table and kitchen, they do not reject. All that they require as an essential is to have a little water within reach in which they can paddle at will.

Ducks' eggs are often put under a Hen to be hatched. When seeking her food, the Hen sometimes leads her little flock to the edge of water, and gives them a glimpse of its dangers. But the ducklings, impelled by instinct, rush into the element they are most partial to. The poor mother, anxious for the fate of the young giddy-pates, which she loves as her own offspring, utters cries of terror. She would resolutely throw herself into the stream, and perhaps get drowned, were she not soothed by seeing themswimming about, happy and active. This shows her that in them she cannot recognise her own flesh and blood.

There are several favourite varieties of the Domestic Duck, but those of Normandy and Picardy, in France, and the Aylesbury Ducks in England, are the most profitable. Every nation rears Ducks; but the Chinese undeniably most excel in this art. For hatching them the Celestials have recourse to artificial heat. They also possess some superb varieties, which have been recently imported into Europe, and are at the present time the glory of our ornamental waters. Magnificent pairs of Chinese Ducks, of which the Mandarin is the most beautiful, may be admired in the Jardin d'Acclimatation at Paris, at the Zoological Gardens of the Regent's Park, and also in the artificial waters in the parks and gardens of our principal cities.

The Common Wild Duck, which we have described, is the type of the order of Ducks; but there are about seventy other species. The most remarkable are the Widgeon, the Poachard, the Shoveller, the Shieldrake, the Eider Duck, the Teal, the Black Diver, and the Merganser.

English Synonyms.—Golden-eyed Garrot: McGillivray, Yarrell, Montagu, Jenyns, Selby. Golden-eyed Duck, Gewdy Duck, Pied Widgeon, Whistler.

Latin Synonyms.—Anas clangula: Linn., Latham, Temminck.Anas glaucion: Bonaparte, Linn., Young, Yarrell, Latham.Clangula vulgaris: Selby.Clangula chrysophthalmus: Jenyns.

The Golden-eyed Garrot,Anas clangula, is sometimes called the Golden-eyed Duck, on account of the brightness of the iris of its eye. In some provinces it has received the nickname of the Harlequin Duck, because its plumage, at a little distance off, looks as if it was composed of black and white feathers only. This variegated appearance, which occurs only in the males, makes a fine show on the dark pools and lakes of the north Highlands and Hebrides, where the scenery in winter is excessively dismal. When undisturbed, they float lightly on the surface; but if alarmed, they are said to sink themselves deeper in the water, diving rapidly, and swimming with great velocity. They fly also swiftly in a direct manner, their small, stiff, and sharp-pointedwings producing a whistling sound, which is heard in calm weather at a considerable distance.24They rise easily from the water, striking it with their feet and wings for several yards; but under alarm, or when there is a breeze rippling the surface, they can ascend at once. During winter they are met with in all parts of the country, from Shetland and Orkney on the one side, and from the Lewis Islands on the other, to the southern extremity of England. In Ireland, also, they are constant winter visitors; but they do not seem to breed with us, betaking themselves to the Arctic regions in spring, and returning in October. They are essentially lake Ducks; but they are also found on the open coasts and estuaries. Their flesh is dark-coloured and unsavoury, it requiring all the art of the cook to conceal its natural fishy flavour.

They are generally plentiful in our markets, where the young and females go under the comprehensive name of Widgeons.

The Golden-eyed Garrot flies low and rapidly. In the month of November it reaches France in small flocks, to remain till the spring. Then it returns to its native country—Sweden, Norway, or Lapland. As it is not a shy bird, the sportsmen on the sea-coasts of Picardy, Normandy, and the Landes kill large quantities of them.

English Synonyms.—Red-headed Poachard: McGillivray. Poachard Montagu. Common Poachard: Jenyns.

Latin Synonyms.—Anas ferina: Linn., Latham, Temminck.Aythya ferina: Bonaparte, McGillivray.Fuligula ferina: Selby, Jenyns.

French Synonym.—Canard melouin: Temminck.

The Poachard nearly resembles the American Canvas-back Duck, but is unlike any British species in form. Its body (of the male) is large, full, depressed, and elliptical in form; its neck long and thick; the head large, oblong, compressed, and rounded above. The plumage is dense, soft, and glossy. The feathers on the fore part of the head are small and stiff; on the remainder of the head and neck soft, silky, and blended. The wings are short, curved, narrow, and pointed. The bill black to a little beyond the nostrils, the intermediate space light greyish blue. The head, and half the neck all round, are of a fine brownish-orange tint.

The Poachard (Fig. 91) is, next to that of the Common Wild Duck, the variety which is most plentiful on our waters. It is almost as large as the latter; it makes its nest in the rushes round pools or lakes, and feeds upon the roots of grasses and aquatic plants, also on worms, mollusks, and small fish. They are plentiful in the eastern counties south of the Humber, and in the fen counties; and it occurs in America, where, as Dr. Richardson states, it breeds in all parts of the fur countries, from the fiftieth parallel to their most northerly limits. Audubon found it abundant in winter about New Orleans, in East Florida, and in Chesapeake Bay. "Although they dive much and to a great depth in our bays and estuaries, yet, when in the shallow ponds of the interior, they prefer dabbling in the mud along the shores, much in the manner of the Mallard."

Fig. 91.—Poachard (Anas ferina).

This bird reaches France in little flocks of twenty to forty in the month of October. It can easily be caught in nets.

English Synonyms.—Blue-winged Shoveller: McGillivray. Common Shoveller: Selby, Jenyns. Shoveller: Montagu.

Latin Synonyms.—Anas clypeata: Linn., Latham, Jenyns, Temminck.Rhynchaspis: Bonaparte, McGillivray.

French Synonyms.—Canard Souchet: Temminck.Rouge de Rivière: Figuier.

The Shoveller (Fig. 92) is very common on the Seine and the Marne, where it is calledRouge de Rivière. It is smaller than the Common Wild Duck, and has a very long bill, with the upper mandible of a semi-cylindrical shape, dilated at its extremity,somewhat in the form of a small spoon. This bird is really charming in the brilliancy of its plumage. Its head and neck are of a bright green, and its wings are variegated with streaks of a brilliant pale blue, green, white, and black. It is called "red" because its plumage underneath is of a brownish-red hue. In the month of February it abandons the icy regions of the north, to visit the more southern lakes and rivers of France and Germany. With us it is only a straggler, although in former days, when our system of drainage was less perfect, it was a more frequent visitor. In France considerable numbers of the Shovellers remain and breed. It dwells in marshes, on lakes and large rivers, being seldom found near the sea-coast; feeding occasionally on vegetable substances, but chiefly on fresh-water mollusks, worms, and insects, for grubbing up which, and separating them from the sand and mud, its bill is evidently well adapted.

Fig. 92.—The Shoveller (Anas clypeata).

The Shoveller is met with in various parts of Europe, as well as in Asia, Africa, and America, where it is found widely dispersed. The nest is constructed on the borders of rushy lakes, and they lay from eight to twelve eggs. When first hatched, the young ones are excessively ugly, their beaks being almost as large as their bodies. The flesh of the Shoveller is tender and delicate, and preserves its pink colour even after it is cooked.

English Synonyms.—Burrow Shielduck: McGillivray. Shieldrake: Montagu, Selby, Jenyns. Popular names: Skeldrake, Skelgoose, Skieling Goose, Burrow Duck, St. George's Duck, Stockannet.

Latin Synonyms.—Anas tadorna: Linn., Latham, Temminck.Tadorna vulpanser: Selby, Bonaparte, McGillivray.

French Synonym.—Canard Tadorne.

This very beautiful bird is a permanent resident in the British Islands, although it is only met sparingly along our coasts. It resorts in spring and summer to the sandy bays on the west coast of England and Scotland, from the Land's End to the Shetland Islands. In autumn and winter it is found on the eastern coast both of Scotland and England, where many individuals remain to breed. It is generally found in the neighbourhood of sandy, marshy land and moist meadows near the sea. It walks with a quickish step, and has a swift flight, something like the Mallard, and with a more rapid beat of the wings than the Goose.

Fig. 93.—The Shieldrake (Anas tadorna).

The Shieldrake (Fig. 93) is the most remarkable of all theDuck tribe, not only from its size, but from its beauty, and the elegant variations of its plumage. It is larger and stands higher on its legs than the Common Wild Duck. The plumage is full, soft, and blended; the feathers of the head and upper neck are small and silky. The colours are very brilliant, being of a glossy blackish green on the head and neck, with purplish reflections in some lights; a broad band or ring of white is found on the neck, and lower another of orange-red encircles the fore part of the body. The rest of the under parts are white, with a band of glossy black on the breast and belly; the back white, variegated with black, white, russet, and green. The Shieldrake abounds on the coasts of the Baltic and North Sea; it is also found in America, and on the southern coasts of France, as well as on the edge of the Northern Ocean. The nest is usually placed in some indentation in the sand, the female frequently choosing a Rabbit's hole, which is often situated in sand-banks. The poor Rabbit, thus turned out of its burrow, never ventures to return to it again.

English Synonyms.—Eider Duck: Montagu. Common Eider: Selby. White-backed Eider: McGillivray. Popular names: St. Cuthbert's Duck, Dunter Goose.

Latin Synonyms.—Anas mollissima: Linn., Latham, Temminck.Somateria mollissima: Jenyns, Bonaparte, McGillivray, Selby.

The Eider Duck, though remarkable for beauty of plumage, is nevertheless a very clumsy bird. In form it is bulky, depressed, and elliptical, with large, oblong, and compressed head. The plumage is dense and fine; the head-feathers are short, tufted, and rounded, and, blending with the terminal filaments, disunited; the wings diminutive, concave, narrow, and pointed, the tips of which extend to the base of the tail, which is short, round, and slightly decurvated.

The Eider Duck is the northern bird which supplies the soft, light, and warm material which is so well known under the name of "eider-down." Its plumage is whitish, but the upper part of the head, its belly, and its tail are black; the side of the head, the throat, and the neck are white, but the hair-like feathers on the back part of the cheeks and nape are of a delicate pale green; thelower part of the neck is cream-coloured. The black parts from their glossiness are conspicuous, while the white look soiled; the head and back are also shaded with a green tint.

The Eider Duck is found in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, occurring in diminished numbers in the latter. In the Outer Hebrides it has many breeding-places, and some nests occur on the Bass Rock, and on the Farn Islands, off the coast of Northumberland, where the eggs have been found in the month of June. The nest is made in some hollow in the turf, and is composed of sea-weed and dried grass, mixed with such marine plants asPlantago maritimaandCoronopsis. The eggs, which vary in number, are of a longish oval shape, smooth and glossy, and of a pale greenish grey. When they have been laid, the female is said to pluck the down from her breast and cover them over with it. This down, when shaken out, will occupy a space of nine or ten inches. This peculiar quality of the down, however, caused by its elastic character, belongs to all the Anatidæ, and probably not less so to the Anserinæ.

The principal home of the Eider Duck is on the bleak and frozen sea-coasts of Northern Europe, and its food, which is obtained by diving, is the bivalve mollusca; also crustacea, fishes, and fish-spawn, together with aquatic worms. It makes its nest on rocks washed by the sea. Sometimes two female birds lay in the same nest, which then contains from nine to ten eggs, for each of them lays from four to six. The nest is roughly built with sea-weed, but it is lined inside with a thick layer of the bird's own down. "The Eider Ducks," as we learn from Willoughby, "build themselves nests on the rocks, and lay good store of very savoury and well-tasted eggs; for the getting of which the neighbouring people let themselves down by ropes dangerously enough, and with the same labour gather the feathers, or eider-dun, our people call them, which are very soft and fit to stuff beds and quilts; for in a small quantity they dilate themselves much, being very springy, and warm the body above any others. These birds are wont at set times to moult their feathers, enriching the fowlers with this desirable merchandise." "When its young are hatched," adds the English naturalist, "it takes them out to sea, and never looks at land till next breeding-time, nor is seen anywhere about our coasts."

There seems to be some considerable difference between the down taken from the dead bird and that which the female plucks from her breast. The lightness and elasticity of the latter are such that two or three pounds of it squeezed into a ball which may be held in the hand will expand so as to fill a quilt large enough to cover a bed. When the female prepares her nest, she lines it as above mentioned; when she has laid her four or six eggs, which are about three inches in length and two in breadth, she strips herself a second time; should this down be abstracted, as it generally is, and she is unable to supply more, the male submits himself to the same plucking process, his contribution being known by its paler colour.

The haunts of a bird yielding so valuable an article are carefully watched, and proprietors do everything in their power to attract them to their land; and in Scotland and Norway the districts resorted to by the Eider Ducks are strictly preserved, everything likely to disturb them being carefully guarded against. Pennant thus records a visit he paid to one of their breeding-places in the Farn Islands on the 15th of July, 1769:—"I found the Ducks sitting," he writes, "and I took some of the nests, the base of which was formed of sea-plants and covered with the down. After separating it carefully from the plants it weighed only three-quarters of an ounce, yet was so elastic that it filled a greater space than the crown of the largest hat. These birds are not numerous on the isles, and it was observed that the Drakes kept on the side most remote from the sitting-places. The Ducks continue on the nest till you come almost to them, and when they rise, they are very slow fliers. The eggs are of a pale olive colour, large, glossy, and smooth; they are from three to four, warmly bedded in down." Sir George Mackenzie, in his "Travels in Iceland," says that "the boat in its approach to Vidöe passed multitudes of Eider Ducks, which hardly moved out of the way; and between the landing-place and the governor's house it required some caution to avoid treading on the nests, while the Drakes were walking about even more familiar than common Ducks. The Ducks were sitting on their nests all round the house, on the garden wall, on the roof, in the inside of the house, and on the chapel."

The locality where the Eiders make their nests is always difficultof access. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Iceland, Lapland, and the coasts of the North Sea invariably secure them. The harvest which is derived from these birds is the source of a considerable revenue, eider-down being, in fact, a very large article of commerce. The rocks where the Eider Ducks lay their eggs are private property, and are handed down in families just as if they were the most valuable possessions.

English Synonyms.—Common Teal: Montagu, Selby. Green-winged Teal.

Latin Synonyms.—Anas crecca: Linn., Latham, Flemming, Temminck, Jenyns.Querquedula crecca: Bonaparte, Selby, McGillivray.

French Synonym.—Canard Sarcelle.

Fig. 94.—Common Teal (Anas crecca).

This is the smallest of the Duck kind known in the British Isles. It is a remarkably beautiful bird, and in colouring as well as in form closely resembles the Mallard, but is much smaller. It frequents marshy places and the margins of lakes and rivers, seldom betaking itself to estuaries or the sea-coast until frost sets in. It walks with ease, swims with great dexterity, flies rapidly, and is in all respects remarkable for its activity. It rises from the water or the land at once, and shoots away with great rapidity, so that the marksman who would bring it down must be very expert with his gun. It breeds in the long reedy grasses on the margin of lakes, or on upland moors and marshes. Its nestis a mass of decayed vegetable matter lined with down and feathers, in which it lays ten or twelve eggs, about an inch and three-quarters in length and an inch and a quarter in breadth. North of the Tay they are found occasionally all the year round, returning, according to Mr. St. John, year after year to breed, if left undisturbed in the process of incubation.

"If we compare," says Mr. McGillivray, "the Common Teal (Anas crecca, Linn.), with the Garganey (Anas circia), the Gadwall (Anas strepira), and the Pintail Duck (Anas acuta), we find slight differences in the form of the bill, in the elongated lamella of the upper mandible, in the length of the neck and tail; but they are all so intimately connected that, unless each species can be converted into a genus, there can be no reason for separating them." He classes them accordingly under the general name of Teal.

This bird makes its appearance in France in spring and autumn. It breeds in all the temperate climates of Europe, and pushes on towards the south as the winter advances.

Of the Teals there seem to be three, probably four, species, which in our climate may be divided into three—namely, the Common Teal,Anas crecca; the Summer Teal,Anas circia; and the Little Teal, or Black Diver,Anas nigra.

According to Columella, in his work "De Re Rustica," the Romans succeeded in domesticating the Teal; but the bird has reverted to an entirely wild state, which is much to be regretted, for it would have formed a valuable addition to the poultry-yard, the flesh of the Teal being held in great estimation.

The group of Ducks usually denominated Teal, Mr. Swainson has formed into the sub-genusBoschas, in which he also includes the Mallard, or Wild Duck. "As this is the most numerous group," says this writer, "so it exhibits a greater diversity of form among the species. They are all, however, characterised by a bill longer than the head, whose breadth is equal throughout; sometimes indeed a little dilated, but never contracted at the tip, while the laminæ of the upper mandible are entirely concealed by the margin of the bill." "The beautifulAnas formosa, which is essentially a Teal, differs," says a writer in the "Penny Cyclopædia," "in the greater length of the tail, thus connecting it more closely with the Pintail and other long-tailed species;while the bill, which is depressed in form in the Mallard as well as in the Common Duck, is convex, with projecting laminæ, in the Teal. Such is the case with the Blue-winged Teal of North America, in which the laminæ of the upper bill project nearly as much as in the Gadwall, while the upper mandible exhibits that sinuosity at the base which is seen in no other Duck except the Shoveller."

Mr. Selby says of the Common Teal: "I am inclined to think that our indigenous breeds seldom quit the immediate neighbourhood of the places in which they are bred, as I have repeatedly observed them to haunt the same district from the time of their being hatched till they separated and paired on the approach of the following spring. The Teal breeds in the long rushy herbage about the edges of lakes, or on the boggy parts of upland moors." Very few of them are found, according to Mr. McGillivray, in the south of Scotland during the summer months. In winter, one of his correspondents informs him, it unites in large flocks, the Drakes having then a whistle like the Plover; but it has not been heard to use this call during the breeding season. The boldness of the female in defence of her young is very affecting. Mr. St. John describes an instance which occurred in Ross-shire. He was riding along when an old Teal, with eight newly-hatched young ones, crossed the road. The youngsters could not climb the bank, and all squatted flat down while he passed. He dismounted, and carried all the young ones a little distance down the road to a ditch, the old bird fluttering about all the time, and frequently coming within reach of his whip. The part of the road where he found them passed through a thick fir-wood covered with rank heather, and it was a great puzzle to him how such little things, scarcely bigger than a mouse, could have struggled through it. Next day he saw them all enjoying themselves in a pond a little distance off, where a brood of Teal appeared every year.

Teal are less timid than the Wild Duck, and the sportsman, therefore, has not the same difficulty in getting within shot of them. They breed in great numbers in some of the Highland lochs, and Mr. St. John says that in August he has seen perfect clouds of them rise from some calm, glassy lake at the report of a gun.

English Synonyms.—Velvet Duck: Montagu. Velvet Scoter: Selby, Jenyns, McGillivray. Black Duck, White-winged Black Duck, Black Diver, Double Scoter.

Latin Synonyms.—Anas fusca: Linn., Latham, Temminck.Oidemia fusca: Selby, Jenyns, Bonaparte, McGillivray.Anas nigra: French writers.

French Synonym.—Canard Macreuse: Temminck.

The Scoters (Oidemia, Flemming) have the bill broad, with dilated margins, and coarse lamelliform teeth; a swelling above the nostrils, dividing them into two equal parts, both large and elevated.

The Velvet Duck is the largest of the Scoters, and is distinguishable by the white band upon its wing, much-depressed body, thick neck, and large, oblong, and compressed head. They make their appearance in our bays and estuaries towards the end of autumn, and depart about the middle of April. In the evening they fly out to sea in flocks of fifteen or twenty when the weather is favourable, returning to the shore in the morning. They fly low, but with considerable speed, moving their wings quickly; and on arriving at a suitable place, they relax a little and alight on their hinder end, the body being kept oblique. On settling, they commence forthwith to feed.

English Synonym.—Black Scoter: Selby, Jenyns, McGillivray.

Latin Synonyms.—Anas nigra: Linn., Latham, Temminck.Oidemia nigra: Flemming, Selby, Jenyns, Bonaparte, McGillivray.

The Black Scoter arrives on our shores about the middle of autumn in considerable flocks, and is seen on all our western coast during winter, but is still more abundant on the French coast. It closely resembles the American Scoter, of which it is probably a variety.

The Black Scoter (Oidemia nigra) is almost as large as the Common Wild Duck, but is shorter and more thickly made. Its plumage is entirely black; when young it is greyish.

The Black Scoter passes its life on the surface of the water, andnever ventures on the land except when driven by stress of weather, or for the purpose of making its nest in the marshes. It flutters rather than flies over the surface of the sea, and makes no use of its wings, except to escape some danger, or to transport itself from one point to another with more rapidity. Its legs, in flying, hang down, and constantly graze the surface of the water; it always appears as if it regretted to leave its favourite element.

When on land, these birds walk slowly and ungracefully; but in the water they are never wearied. Like the Petrel, they have the singular faculty of being able to run about on the waves. They are natives of both the Old and New World. About the month of October, driven by the north and north-west winds, they come down from the northerly countries of Europe, and visit our Atlantic coasts and the Mediterranean.

Fig. 95.—Black Scoter (Oidemia nigra).

The Black Scoter delights in the salt-water pools adjacent to the sea, and the sheltered creeks on the coast, in which they find a refuge against storms. In these places they become the objects of the terribly destructive sport of which we are about to speak.

Two or three times during the winter, large placards exhibited in certain towns of the department of Hérault—at Montpellier, Cette, Agde, &c.—announce that large flocks of these birds (calledfoulquesin the country) having settled down on some adjacent lake, a day's sport will be had with them on a given date. The day is turned into a real fête by the sportsmen, and an extraordinary concourse of people are brought together. Every one starts in the middle of the night, some in carriages, some in carts, and the most humble among them on donkeys or on foot. At daybreak they reach the margin of the lake. When arrived there, they embark in boats, each provided with a rower. At a given signal the whole flotilla puts off from the shore, and advances slowly towards that part of the lake in which the Ducks are to be found.

These unusual preparations are a cause of astonishment to thebirds, which utter gentle cries of terror as they crowd together. The boats, however, hem them in on all sides, gradually contracting their circle so as to shut the birds up in an enclosed space. The Black Scoters, seeing the enemy advancing upon them, in their anxiety take to diving and plunging about. But, before long, being closely pressed, they spread their wings and take flight over the heads of their enemies. This is the signal for the commencement of the first volley. There is now no cessation in the resounding reports of the guns; for usually no less than five hundred sportsmen meet on the surface of a not very extensive lake, such as those of Mauguio or Palavas. The massacre lasts for some hours; in fact, these unfortunate birds, incapable of flying very far, are pursued from place to place by the pitiless boats, which are soon, like the bark of the venerable Charon, laden with the dead. When no birds remain on the lake, the boats return to the shore, rowing along the banks to hunt out the wounded. Three thousand of these birds will sometimes fall before the murderous guns in the space of a few hours. Almost as a matter of course, quarrels often arise among the sportsmen. The cause of dispute may be some bird which has been shot at from several boats at the same moment. These disturbances, which usually begin with shouts and abuse, from the warmth of the southern blood sometimes terminate fatally. In this sport tumult reaches its utmost pitch, and it is as productive of danger as of pleasure. Sometimes a boat capsizes, owing to the excessive eagerness of the rowers; sometimes a sportsman is wounded by an awkward neighbour, or two or three men fall into the water in trying to reach their prey. Such are the exciting scenes that I have often witnessed in my youth; they were the supreme delight of the boys of Clapas (Montpellier). The same sport is practised at Hyères, in the Var, and on the lake of Berre, near Marseilles.

On the coasts of Picardy, where the Black Scoter abounds during winter, very destructive means are used for their capture. Nets are stretched horizontally in the water, above the banks of shell-fish which the sea has left uncovered at its reflux, and on which these birds feed. When they dive to seize their prey they become entangled in the meshes of the net, from which they cannot escape.

The Black Scoter is also the object of individual sport when itdoes not arrive in these immense flocks. It is then shot from a boat like other water-fowl.

The Black Scoter makes but a poor figure on aristocratic tables. Its flesh, which is by no means tender, retains a very decided marshy flavour. In former times it was much sought after, but not exactly for its culinary qualities. The reason this bird was shown such preference was because people were permitted to eat it in Lent in place of fish.

The singular notions on which the Church of Rome founded this toleration—a toleration, however, which still exists in full force even at the present day—is as follows. The councils of the twelfth century permitted both the clergy and laity to eat Black Scoters during Lent because it was a generally-accepted idea, founded on the writings of Aristotle, that these birds were not produced from an egg, but had a vegetable origin. The learned of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, seeing large flocks of these birds suddenly appear, while nothing was known whence they came, indulged in all kinds of conjectures to explain this mysterious fact. They attributed to them origins which were marvellous; one conjecturing that the feathery appearance in the ciliated tentacles of certain mollusks which inhabit the barnacle shell changed into Black Scoters; others imagined that these birds proceeded from the wood of rotten fir-trees which had been long floating about in the sea, or even from the fungi and marine mosses which cling to thedébrisof wrecked ships; others, again, went so far as to assert that the north of Scotland, and especially the Orkney Isles, produced a tree the fruit of which, falling into the sea, developed into the bird which was calledAnser arboreus, in order to commemorate its origin: this bird they imagined was the Black Scoter.

The naturalists who gave expression to these transcendental views might certainly boast that they had Aristotle on their side; for this distinguished philosopher believed in the spontaneous generation of various kinds of animals. He asserted, for instance, that rats sprung from decayed vegetables, and that bees proceeded from the carcass of an ox. Who, for instance, is unacquainted with the fine episode of the fourth book of Virgil's Georgics, where this poetic fiction is related in beautiful verse?

As a matter of fact, however, Pope Innocent III., better instructed than Aristotle in this department of natural history, passed sentence on all these tales by forbidding its use during Lent; but no one, either in the monasteries, the castles, or the taverns, has ever looked at this interdict of the sovereign pontiff in a serious point of view.

This controverted question, however, met with an unexpected solution. Gerard Veer, a Dutch navigator, in one of his voyages to the north of Europe, found some eggs of the Velvet Duck. Being ignorant of their nature, he brought them home, put them under a hen, and, when they were hatched, the produce exactly resembled the birds which were asserted by the ancients to proceed from the decay of vegetable matter. Gerard Veer made the announcement that these birds bred in Greenland, thus affording a complete explanation of the absence of their eggs in southern countries.

This discovery of the Dutch navigator met with no favourable reception. The custom of eating the Velvet Duck in Lent had been long established; the Church allowed it, and every one was satisfied. Gerard Veer was sent back to his galliot, and all kinds of reasons were found for satisfying the consciences and stomachs of the faithful, which had been justly alarmed.

There was, however, no deficiency in the arguments brought forward. It was asserted that the feathers of the Velvet Duck were of quite a different nature from those of other birds; that their blood wascold, and that it did not coagulate when shed; that their fat, like that of fishes, had the property of never hardening. The analogy between the Velvet Duck and the fishes being thus clearly established, the permission of the councils remained in full force.

Finally, as the writers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were but indifferent naturalists, and had very vaguely described the Velvet Duck, the same mode of reproduction was ascribed to several other marsh-birds. As a matter of course, the same toleration in Lent was extended to them. The faithful were thus in the habit of indulging in various other birds, such as the Brent and Bernicle Geese. The opposing claims of devotion and appetite being thus harmlessly satisfied, no onecared to object to a supposition which gave such general satisfaction.

We must add that this confusion of names still exists, for on the sea-coast several varieties of the Duck genus still go by the name of the privileged bird.

There are five principal varieties of this species. The most remarkable are the Velvet Duck (Oidemia fusca), the Common Black Scoter (O. nigra), and the Great-billed Black Diver (O. perspicellata).

English Synonyms.—Surf Scoters: Selby, McGillivray, Jenyns. Surf Duck, Black Duck: Pennant.

Latin Synonyms.—Anas perspicellata: Linn., Latham, Temminck.Oidemia perspicellata: Selby, Jenyns, Temminck, McGillivray.

French Synonyms.—Macreuse à large bec,Canard marchand.

The Great-billed Scoter is a rare bird in this country, the only positive evidence of its occurrence being a female, shot in the Firth of Forth, mentioned by Mr. Gould, and a recently-shot specimen sent to Mr. Bartlett for preservation, and from which Mr. Yarrell derived his description. It is, however, stated by Audubon as being abundant in winter on the eastern coast of America, as far south as the mouth of the Mississippi. In Labrador he found a female on its nest in a marsh; the nest was snugly placed amidst the tall blades of a bunch of grass, and was raised fully four inches above the roots. It was composed of withered and rotten weeds, the former being circularly arranged over the latter, producing a well-rounded cavity, six inches in diameter, and two and a half deep; the border of the inner cup being lined with down from the birds after the manner of the Eider Duck. In it lay five eggs, the smallest he had ever seen in a Duck's nest. They are equally rounded at both ends, about two inches and a half long, and an inch and five-eighths in their greatest breadth; the shell perfectly smooth, and of a uniform yellow colour.

The plumage of the bird is soft, dense, and glossy; the feathers of the head and neck blended and velvety; the wings short, narrow, and pointed; the upper mandible orange red, the protuberance on each side yellowish grey; at the base is a large squarepatch of black, margined with orange red, with a patch of greyish white in front.

Intimately allied to the Ducks in many respects, and to the Divers and Cormorants in others, are the Mergansers, a very distinct family, characterised by a large, elongated, and depressed body; long and slender neck; oblong, compressed head, narrowing anteriorly; bill straight, narrow, and slender, sub-cylindrical outwards, wide at the base, and abruptly hooked at the tip; margins of both mandibles serrated; the teeth directed backwards.

English Synonyms.—Goosander: Montagu, Selby, Jenyns. Dun Diver: Montagu. Buff-breasted Goosander: McGillivray. Greater Goosander, Saw-bill, Jacksaw.

Latin Synonyms.—Mergus merganser: Linn., Latham, Temminck, Selby, Jenyns.Mergus castor: Linn., Latham.Merganser castor: Bonaparte, McGillivray.

French Synonyms.—Bieuneof the old French.Grand Harle: Temminck.

The Merganser (Mergus, frommergere, to submerge) is sometimes separated from the Ducks. Prince Charles Bonaparte includes in it two sub-genera, the Smew (Mergus) and the Merganser of Leach. The Merganser is distinguished by its slender and almost cylindrical bill, armed on the edges with points turning backwards, somewhat resembling the teeth of a saw; yet, in its general appearance, plumage, and habits, this bird bears much resemblance to the Ducks.

The Mergansers very rarely come on land; they are exclusively aquatic, and frequent rivers, lakes, and pools, preferring them to estuaries; but they may be seen in summer fishing in the sea-lochs of Scotland. The Latins gave them the name ofMergusin consequence of their habit of swimming with the body submerged—the head only appearing above the surface of the water.

These birds feed on fish, of which they destroy an immense number. They also commit serious depredations on the spawning beds. They are able to accumulate a large quantity of air in the trachea, and can therefore remain some time under water without breathing. They take advantage of this for diving to thebottom to seek their prey, and they will often travel to a considerable distance before they appear again on the surface. The activity they display in pursuit of their prey is very great; for, in order to accelerate their speed in swimming, they make use of their wings as well as of their feet. The Merganser is in the habit of swallowing fish head first; consequently, it often happens that the remainder of the body of their prey is too bulky to be easily gorged; they are, however, very far from wishing to get rid of this temporary inconvenience, but wait till it becomes gradually absorbed. Sometimes the digestion of the fish's head has already commenced in the bird's stomach whilst the tail is still projecting from its bill.

The flight of the Merganser is rapid and prolonged, without reaching any great elevation. Their gait on land is awkward and tottering. They generally inhabit temperate regions during the winter, and in spring return to the high latitudes of both hemispheres, which are their breeding-places. They lay from eight to fourteen whitish-coloured eggs, either on the shore between two large stones, or in thickets of grass on the edge of lakes and rivers: occasionally a hollow in a tree is selected; but it is invariably near water. Their nest is composed of dry grass, sedges, fibrous roots, and other similar materials, with a lining of down plucked from the breast.

The Merganser is a regular visitor, in winter, to our coasts and inland lakes. It breeds in North Uist and others of the Outer Hebrides. Its flesh is unedible except when young.

English Synonyms.—Smew: Montagu, Selby, Jenyns. Pied Smew: McGillivray. White Nun: Selby. Pied Diver, Vane Widgeon.

Latin Synonyms.—Mergus albellus: Linn., Latham, Jenyns, Bonaparte, McGillivray.Mergus minutus: Young, Linn., Latham.

French Synonyms.—Harle Piette: Temminck.Harle Huppé: Buffon.

Like its congeners, the Smew is a native of the northern regions of both continents, retiring southward as the winter approaches, and spreading in great numbers over Germany, France, and Italy in October and November, and returning northward in April.North of the Humber it is a rare bird. Montagu says it is plentiful on the south coast, but that it is not known to breed with us. It is of elegant form, smaller than the Merganser, being only fifteen inches in length. The plumage of the head is full, soft, and blended; the upper part of the head and nape elongated, forming a gradually narrowing crest; the wings short, rather narrow, slightly convex, and pointed—when closed reaching to within an inch and a half from the end of the tail. The male bird, at maturity, has a great spot of greenish black on each side of the bill, and a longitudinal one on the occiput. The tufted crest, neck, scapulars, small coverts of the wing, and all the lower parts are pure white; the upper part of the back, the two crescents under the sides of the breast, and the edges of the scapulars are deep black; the tail is ash-coloured; sides and thighs are varied with ash-coloured zigzags; bill, tarsi, and toes are bluish ash; webs black, and the iris brown. In habit the Smew greatly resembles the Goosanders.

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