the most singular in appearance, on account of the great breadth of
its spoon-like bill. Its plumage also, although beautiful, strikes one
as somewhat singular; for it is rare to find pale and delicate hues,
like those on the wings and upper parts of this duck, together with
a deep, rich colouring, as on the head, upper neck, and under parts.
The pale blue and pure white contrast beautifully with the deep green
and chestnut-brown. Another most interesting point in the shoveler’s
history is its distribution. There is but one shoveler duck in the
northern hemisphere, over which it has an immense range, including
Europe, North Africa, Asia, and North America from Alaska to Panama.
But in the southern hemisphere there are four other species, occupying
respectively the four following widely separated regions--South
America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
The shoveler is a winter visitor to the British Islands; it also breeds
sparingly in some localities in the Midlands, in East Anglia, and the
northern counties; also in the Hebrides, and in one or two spots in
Ireland. It is a very early breeder, placing its nest, lined with dry
grass and down, on the ground, usually near the water, and it lays
eight to fourteen eggs, pale greenish buff in colour.
In the breeding season it utters a low quack, but at other times is a
silent bird.
Tufted Duck.
Fuligula cristata.
[Illustration: FIG. 83.--TUFTED DUCK. ¹⁄₁₁ natural size.]
Black, the head and neck with purplish gloss; speculum, flanks, and
belly white; bill pale blue; irides brilliant yellow; legs and feet
dark blue. Length, seventeen inches. _Female_: dark brown; under
parts brownish grey. Male changes colour in May.
* * * * *
Of sea or diving ducks (including the mergansers) no fewer than twenty
species, referable to nine genera, have been described as ‘British.’
Of this number nine species are irregular visitants or stragglers, and
may be dismissed with a mention of their names: Red-crested pochard
(_Fuligula rufina_), white-eyed duck (_Nyroca ferruginea_), Barrow’s
goldeneye (_Clangula islandica_), buffel-headed duck (_C. albeola_),
harlequin duck (_Cosmonetta histrionica_), Steller’s duck (_Heniconetta
Stelleri_); king eider (_Somateria spectabilis_); surf-scoter (_Œdemia
perspicillata_), and hooded merganser (_Mergus cucullatus_).
Of the eleven species, referable to six genera, that breed in, or
regularly visit, these islands, and may properly be described as
British birds, three are mergansers, the least duck-like of the ducks
in their curiously modified beaks and grebe-like habits. Of the other
eight species, four only are, strictly speaking, sea-ducks, being (on
our coasts) exclusively marine in their habits. These are the eider,
the long-tailed duck, the common scoter, and the velvet scoter. The
tufted duck, pochard, and goldeneye, are marine and freshwater ducks.
The scaup is more of a sea-duck than these three, and may be said to be
intermediate in its habits between the two groups.
These eight diving ducks are all interesting, and some of them very
handsome birds in their richly coloured and conspicuous plumage. They
have stout, heavy-looking figures, and are clumsy walkers on land; but
in the water they are as much at home as grebes and guillemots, and
are also strong on the wing. But they are not so familiar to us as
the mallard, wigeon, and teal, as comparatively few persons have the
opportunity of observing them. Mr. Abel Chapman, in his valuable work,
‘Bird Life on the Border,’ says that these ducks are only well known
to those ‘who are enthusiastic enough to follow the regular sport of
wildfowling afloat, and who alone enjoy the opportunity of becoming
acquainted with these wild creatures in their bleak and desolate
haunts.’
The tufted duck is a winter visitor to our coasts, also a resident
throughout the year, and a regular breeder in various localities
in England, Scotland, and Ireland. In winter it is both a sea- and
freshwater duck; in the breeding season it is exclusively an inhabitant
of inland waters, with a preference for small ponds with weedy bottoms.
It pairs in March, and male and female thereafter keep company until
incubation begins, when the marriage tie is dissolved, as is the case
with most ducks. It feeds chiefly by night, and is inactive by day,
floating lazily on the water, dozing, or preening its feathers. At
sunset it leaves the pool where it has passed the day, to seek its
feeding-grounds. Its food consists of weeds growing at the bottom, for
which it dives, and, tearing them up, brings them to the surface, to be
eaten at leisure.
The nest is placed among the rushes at the waterside, or in the centre
of a tuft of aquatic grass, and is composed of dry sedges and grass,
to which down is added as incubation progresses. Eight or ten eggs are
laid, sometimes more, greenish buff in colour.
When rising from the water it utters a grating cry. In winter it is
gregarious, and is often seen associating with the scaup, pochard, and
goldeneye.
Scaup.
Fuligula marila.
Head, neck, upper breast, and back glossy black; mantle finely
vermiculated with greyish brown and white; speculum white, terminated
with greenish black; rump, wing- and tail-feathers brown; belly white;
bill pale blue; irides straw-yellow; legs and feet dull blue. Length,
eighteen inches. _Female_: brown; a broad white band round the
base of the bill; upper breast and mantle vermiculated with grey; belly
dull white.
* * * * *
The scaup is common with us in winter, and found on most parts of the
coast, but never remains to breed. It does not come inland, like the
tufted duck and goldeneye, but is met with in estuaries and the mouths
of tidal rivers. In its breeding-haunts in the extreme north of Europe
it penetrates to lakes and rivers at a considerable distance from the
sea. It feeds on shellfish, crustaceans, aquatic insects, also on
vegetable food, which it obtains by diving. It is gregarious at all
times, and in the breeding season is seen in small flocks, feeding or
floating idly on the water. It rises heavily, and flies rapidly, with
violently-beating wings. Seebohm, who observed it in its summer haunts,
says of its language: ‘Of all the cries of ducks that have come under
my notice, I think that of the scaup is the most discordant. None
of them are very musical, perhaps; but if you imagine a man with an
exceptionally harsh, hoarse voice, screaming out the word _scaup_
at the top of his voice, some idea of the note of this duck may be
formed.’
The scaup makes its nest near the water, and lays from six to nine
eggs, of a pale greenish grey colour.
Pochard.
Fuligula ferina.
Head and neck chestnut-red; breast and upper back black; mantle finely
freckled with black and white; speculum inconspicuous and grey; under
parts greyish white; tail-coverts black: bill black with a blue band
across the middle; irides red; legs and feet bluish grey. Length,
nineteen and a half inches. _Female_: dull brown; chin white.
* * * * *
The pochard is a common winter duck when it comes to us from northern
Europe; it is a resident throughout the year in small numbers, and
breeds regularly in many localities in Great Britain and Ireland. As a
breeding species it has, however, greatly diminished in numbers, owing
to the extensive draining of marshes and meres in recent times. The
pochard is more a freshwater than a sea-duck, and comes nearest to the
tufted duck in its habits, obtaining its food by diving, and tearing up
the grass and weeds from the lake-bottom. It feeds chiefly on vegetable
matter, and is considered a better bird for the table than any other
diving duck. In its flight it resembles the tufted duck, and also has
a harsh, quick cry, like that species, when alarmed. At other times it
has a low, whistling call-note. The nest is a hollow among the herbage
near the water, or in a tussock of sedge, and is lined with dry grass,
and with down from the sitting-bird. Seven to ten or twelve eggs are
laid, in colour like those of the scaup.
Goldeneye.
Clangula glaucion.
Head and neck glossy green, the crown-feathers slightly elongated; a
white patch at the base of the bill; back black; lower neck, scapulars,
speculum, and under parts white; thighs dark brown; bill bluish black;
irides golden-yellow; legs and toes yellow, with blackish webs. Length,
nineteen inches. _Female_: dark brown above, without the white
face-spot; below, white. The female colour is assumed by the male in
summer.
* * * * *
The goldeneye is a regular winter visitant to the British Islands,
remaining from the middle of October to the middle of April. In
language and flight it resembles the scaup and tufted duck, but its
flight is more violent, the rapidly-beating wings producing a loud,
whistling sound. It passes most of the time on the water, and dives
for its food, which consists of small fishes, frogs, shellfish, and
insects; also seeds and tender shoots of water-plants. During the
winter it inhabits the sea and inland waters indifferently; but in
its summer haunts it seeks an inland lake, marsh, or river, where it
has the peculiar habit of nesting in the trunk of a hollow tree. The
eggs are deposited on the rotten wood at the bottom of the cavity,
and a thick bed of down from the sitting-bird is made. As many as
nineteen eggs are sometimes laid, but a dozen or thirteen is the
more usual number. They are smooth and glossy, and greyish green in
colour. The natives in the summer home of the goldeneye place suitable
nesting-boxes, with small entrance-holes, in the trees; the ducks
readily occupy the boxes, and return to them year after year, although
always robbed of their eggs. When the young have hatched the parent
bird takes them in her beak, and carries them one by one to the water.
Long-tailed Duck.
Harelda glacialis.
Head and neck, white with brownish grey cheeks, and below, on each
side of the neck, an oval patch of dark brown; back, rump, and
tail-feathers blackish; long scapulars, inner secondaries, short
outside tail-feathers, belly, and flanks white; breast, wing-coverts,
and primaries brownish black; bill, rose-colour in the middle, base
and tip black; irides yellow or red; legs and feet pale lead-colour.
Length, twenty-six inches. _Female_: brown; stripe above the eye
and lower parts white.
* * * * *
The long-tailed duck has the most elegant figure of the sea and diving
ducks, if we except the mergansers, and although not so richly coloured
as some species, is a beautiful bird in its white and brown plumage,
bright red irides, and rose-coloured bill. During its winter sojourn
on our coasts it is exclusively marine in its habits. To the south and
east coasts its visits are irregular; on the west coast of Scotland
and in the Hebrides it is common; in Ireland it is restricted to the
north coast. It is more arctic in its distribution than any other duck,
and in summer is only to be met with north of the limit of forest
growth. In its summer haunts it goes inland to breed, and Seebohm
says: ‘Probably the explanation of its almost exclusive attachment to
salt water in winter is to be found in the fact that it rarely winters
in a climate where all the fresh water is not frozen up.’ A charming
account is given by the same author of the habits of the long-tailed
duck in its summer home in the Siberian tundra--a vast level region
of swamps and lakes, gay with bright-tinted moss and lichen, and
brilliantly-coloured arctic flowers. The ducks were abundant and very
tame, in strange contrast to their excessively shy and wary disposition
on our coasts. The smaller lakes were inhabited by single pairs,
the larger sheets of water by several pairs. Each pair appeared to
be very jealous of any invasion of its breeding-grounds, and severe
battles were frequent between the males. The call of the drake was
very peculiar, and often heard, and was a loud, clear cry of three
syllables, the middle one prolonged and strongly accented. In its
summer haunts it feeds on water-plants. The drake does not leave his
mate after the eggs have all been laid, but assists in incubation and
in protecting the young. The nest is a slight hollow in the ground with
down for lining; the eggs are pale buffish green in colour.
Mr. Abel Chapman says that, like other sea-ducks, this species gets its
food by diving, but is not a bottom-feeder like the eider and scaup,
which cannot feed in water more than two or three fathoms deep. The
long-tail feeds on small marine animals floating in the water, and is
hence able to feed in deep as well as shallow seas at a distance from
land.
Eider Duck.
Somateria mollisima.
[Illustration: FIG. 84.--EIDER DUCK. ¹⁄₁₀ natural size.]
Bill greenish; down its centre, halfway to the nostrils, is a wedge
of feathers which are black, like those of the forehead and crown;
the latter bisected by a white line running to the pale green nape,
and divided by another white line from a green patch on each side of
the neck; cheeks, back, and wing-coverts white; long sickle-shaped
secondaries yellowish white; wing-feathers, rump, and tail nearly
black, with a white patch on each side of the latter; breast rosy buff;
abdomen black; legs and feet dull green. Length, twenty-five inches.
_Female_: rufous-brown barred with blackish.
* * * * *
The male eider is a large and strikingly handsome duck in its
conspicuous and strongly contrasted colours--velvet-black and snowy
white, variegated with buff and delicate pale sea-green. But it is
exclusively a sea-duck, living most of the time away from land,
and most people know it only by name, as the bird that yields the
exceedingly light and elastic down with which bed-quilts are stuffed.
It inhabits the northern coasts of Great Britain, its most southern
breeding-station being on the Farne Islands, off the coast of
Northumberland. It is gregarious at all seasons, and is usually seen in
small flocks on the sea. It sits lightly on the water, swims and dives
well, and flies rapidly near the surface. It feeds much near the shore,
but seldom comes to land, except in the breeding season. Its food is
obtained at the bottom of the sea, and Mr. A. Chapman says of its
feeding habits: ‘The eider resembles the scaup in many of its habits,
and both ducks are intimately acquainted with the local geography of
the sea-bottom: all its depth for miles, and the position of every
submerged reef and shallow, are well known to them. But while the scaup
contents himself with the smaller shellfish and crustacea, the eider,
with his strong hooked beak, can crush and devour dog-crabs nearly as
broad as one’s fist.’ Charles Dixon thus describes its language and
love-making: ‘It is a remarkably silent bird, except in the breeding
season, when I have often heard the male utter a note something like
that of the ringdove, as he swam round and round his mate, bobbing his
head rapidly all the time. On one occasion I met with a party of these
birds evidently engaged in pairing, my attention being drawn to them
by a chorus of grunting notes the males were uttering. It was a most
animated sight, and the drakes were constantly chasing each other with
angry cries, or swimming excitedly round the ducks, with trembling
wings and heads swaying up and down. The noise made by this party of
eiders could be distinctly heard a mile across the water.’
The nest, as a rule, is placed near the sea, sometimes on the tops of
lofty cliffs, and is usually concealed among the coarse grass, heath,
and herbage that grow in such situations. It is a hollow lined with
fine grass and seaweed, and a quantity of down plucked from the under
parts of the sitting-bird. The eggs are five to seven in number, and
are smooth, oval in shape, and of a pale dull green colour. The female
continues to pluck down from her body during incubation, until the eggs
are enveloped in a large mass of it; and on leaving the nest to feed
she covers the eggs with the down. At this time the drake is not wholly
forgetful of her, and on her appearance, when she leaves her eggs to
feed, he usually keeps company with her, and after she has left the
water rejoins his male companions.
The drake is at all times a shy and wary bird; but in the breeding
season the ducks, if not molested, are very tame, and at the Farne
Islands the sitting-bird will sometimes allow her back to be stroked,
without leaving her eggs.
Common Scoter.
Œdemia nigra.
[Illustration: FIG. 85.--COMMON SCOTER. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
Black, the upper parts glossy; central ridge of the upper mandible
orange. Length, twenty inches. _Female_: blackish brown above,
dark brown below.
* * * * *
The common, or black scoter, is a large, handsome bird, whose
handsomeness is due to its uniform blackness, reminding one of those
two familiar beauties and favourites, the blackbird and the domestic
black cat; and as with these two--one with splendid yellow eyes, the
other with a golden dagger for a beak--so is the scoter’s blackness
relieved, and its handsomeness brought out, by a touch of bright orange
on the upper mandible. It is the most marine of the diving ducks, and
a deep-sea feeder like the long-tailed duck. Its breeding-grounds
are in northern Europe, West Siberia, and Iceland, but a few pairs
breed annually in the north of Scotland. The nest is a hollow in the
ground near the sea, lined with dead leaves and grass, and with down
from the sitting-bird. The eggs are eight or nine in number, and of
a pale greyish buff. In winter the black scoter visits our coasts in
thousands, and is the most common sea-duck. It does not appear to breed
until its second year, as large numbers in immature plumage remain on
our coasts throughout the summer. The scoter has a harsh cry like that
of the tufted duck, and in spring the drake has a love-call, said to be
not unmusical.
Velvet Scoter.
Œdemia fusca.
Plumage velvet-black, except a small white patch behind the eye and
a conspicuous white bar across the wing; bill apricot-yellow, with a
black tubercle at the base; irides white; legs and toes orange-red;
webs black. Length, twenty-two inches. _Female_: sooty brown; a large
dull white patch before, and a smaller one behind, the eye; speculum
less defined than in the male.
* * * * *
Mr. Abel Chapman, comparing this species with the last described, has
given the best picture of it. He says: ‘The velvet scoter is a larger
and handsomer species, the jet-black plumage of the old drakes being
peculiarly rich and glossy, and is easily distinguished at any distance
by the broad white speculum on the wings, closely resembling an old
black cock, if one could imagine such a bird far out at sea.’ It is not
known whether the velvet scoter breeds in Scotland or not. In summer
it is found on inland lakes in Scandinavia and Northern Russia, and
it visits our coasts in winter, but not in such large numbers as the
common scoter. It is not so exclusively marine in its habits as that
species.
Goosander.
Mergus merganser.
[Illustration: FIG. 86.--GOOSANDER. ¹⁄₁₂ natural size.]
Bill and irides blood-red; head and upper neck glossy dark green;
lower neck and under parts white tinged with salmon-pink; upper back
and scapulars black; wing-coverts white; primaries and some of the
secondaries ash-brown; lower back and tail ash-grey; legs and feet
orange-red. Length, twenty-six inches. The female is less conspicuously
coloured, and has a reddish brown head and neck.
* * * * *
The mergansers are sea-ducks of slimmer and more elegant forms than
the species already described, and differ from scaups, eiders, and
scoters as terns differ from gulls. They have grebe-like necks and
long, slender, serrated bills, and a variegated plumage with strongly
contrasted colours.
The goosander is the largest of the three British species, and is not
uncommon in winter on some parts of the coast, and is abundant in the
west districts of Scotland. Its visits to the coasts of England and
Ireland occur chiefly in severe seasons. It is also a breeder in the
Highlands of Scotland. In its summer haunts in Scandinavia and north
of the arctic circle the goosander affects rivers and inland lakes, but
is also found on the sea-coast. But whether on sea or lake, the water
is its element; and being somewhat grebe-like in form, with the legs
placed very far back, it sits erect, and moves with difficulty on land.
On the water it submerges its body when swimming like the cormorant,
and, like that bird, preys on fish, pursuing and capturing them under
water.
The goosander has a habit very singular in a bird of its conformation
and marine habits during the greater part of the year: it breeds in the
hollow trunk of a tree. Seebohm relates that the Finns take advantage
of this habit, and of the goosander’s readiness to make use of an
artificial substitute for the hollow trunk, by fastening hollow boxes,
with a trapdoor behind, to the, trees. The peasant robs the nest daily
until a score or more eggs have been taken; the bird is then allowed to
keep and hatch any more that may be laid, so that the following year’s
harvest may not be spoilt. He adds that if there is no hollow tree,
and no boxes are provided, the nest is made in a hole under a rock,
and that the bird has been known to breed in an old nest of a crow or
bird of prey in a tree. When the nest is at a distance from the ground
the parent bird removes her young in her beak, carrying them down one
by one, then leading them to the water. The nest is made of weeds and
moss, and a quantity of down from the bird is added. Eight to twelve
eggs are laid, smooth-shelled, and creamy white in colour.
The call of the goosander is a low whistling cry.
Red-breasted Merganser.
Mergus serrator.
Bill and irides red; head, including crest and upper neck, dark glossy
green; below, a white collar, divided on the nape by a narrow black
line running to the back, which is also black; the long falcated inner
scapulars black, the outer ones white; speculum white barred with
black; rump, flanks, and tail-coverts vermiculated with grey; lower
neck pale chestnut streaked with black, on each side a conspicuous tuft
of white feathers edged with black; under parts white; legs and feet
reddish orange. Length, twenty-four inches. The female has the head and
neck reddish brown, and is less richly coloured than the male, and much
smaller.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 87.--RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. ¹⁄₁₁ natural
size.]
The present species exceeds the goosander in elegance of form and in
handsomeness of colouring and ornament. It is a winter visitor, and
also a resident throughout the year on the coast of Scotland north of
the Clyde, and of the Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, and St. Kilda. In
Scotland and Ireland it inhabits inland lakes and rivers, as well as
the sea-coasts. During the cold season it is gregarious, and usually
goes in small flocks. In March these companies break up, and male and
female are thereafter seen always in close companionship. They are
excessively shy and wary birds, diving or taking to flight on the least
alarm. They feed on small fishes and marine molluscs, which they take
by diving; near the shore, where the water is shallow, they are often
seen with head and neck almost continuously immersed as they explore
among the seaweed at the bottom for food. They swim like the cormorant,
having the faculty of sinking the body beneath the surface; and also
dive like that bird, springing up and plunging down almost vertically.
The favourite nesting-place is on an island, under the shelter of a
rock, sometimes in a hole in the ground. The nest is formed of leaves
and grass placed in a slight hollow, down being added later by the
incubating bird. Six to nine eggs are laid, sometimes as many as
twelve. The eggs are glossy, and pale olive-grey in colour. The drake
does not assist in incubation or in protecting the young.
Smew.
Mergus albellus.
Forehead, crown, with crest, throat, neck, and under parts satin-white;
a black patch before and below the eye, and a greenish black triangular
patch on the crest; back black, with a crescentic mottled band of the
same colour stretching over each side of the shoulders, and another
in front of each wing; scapulars white margined with black; lesser
wing-coverts white; greater coverts black, with two narrow white bars;
wing- and tail-feathers blackish brown; flanks vermiculated with
grey; bill, legs, and feet lead-colour. Length, seventeen inches.
_Female_: head reddish brown; collar ash-grey; rest of the plumage
much as in the male. In June the male assumes the female plumage, which
is retained until the autumn.
* * * * *