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.