This Scoter is a late breeder, its eggs not being laid before the end of June, or even early in July. Although migrating in flocks, the birds appear to separate into pairs as soon as the summer quarters are reached. The duck and drake keep close company as usual, until the eggs are laid, after which the latter leaves his mate to bring up the brood alone. The Velvet Scoter breeds in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe and Asia, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and winters in temperate latitudes. The breeding-places are chiefly situated on the tundras, amongst scrub or coarse vegetation, near the rivers and lakes. The scanty nest of dry grass and dead leaves is often made under some bush, and, before incubation commences, is lined with down from the body of the female. The eight or nine eggs are greyish-buff in colour, smooth, and with little gloss. As soon as the young are capable of flight, a movement south is made. SCAUP DUCK. This Duck, the _Anas marila_ of Linnæus, or _Fuligula marila_ of modern naturalists, derives its trivial name from its habit of frequenting the “mussel-scaups,” or “mussel-scalps,” and is tolerably abundant round the British coasts during winter. The adult male is distinguished by having the head and neck black, shot with metallic-green and purple, and the back and scapulars vermiculated with white and black. The general colour of the female is brown, shading into grayish-white on the belly, whilst a broad white band extends round the base of the bill. Scaup Ducks begin to arrive off our more northern coasts in September, but not until a month later in the south. They begin to leave us again in March, and the migration continues through the whole of April into May, the bird thus being one of the last Ducks to retire north in spring. Although by no means unfrequently met with on inland waters during migration and in winter, the Scaup Duck is, for the most part, a dweller on the sea, resorting, by preference, to bays, estuaries, and the mouths of large rivers, especially where a considerable amount of mud is left bare at low water. It is gregarious at this season, often congregating into large flocks, and not unfrequently associates with other Sea Ducks, notably with Wigeon and Pintail. It is a most expert and ready diver, spends most of its time upon the water, and appears always to prefer to dive, rather than to fly, in avoiding pursuit. If compelled to take wing, it rises with much splashing: but, when once fairly in the air, is capable of rapid flight, the quickly-beating pinions making a whistling or rustling sound. The food of the Scaup Duck consists largely of molluscs, but crustaceans and marine plants are also eaten by this species. When thus diving for food, the bird often remains below for a minute at a time. It feeds much at night, and passes pretty regularly from its usual haunts by day to its feeding-places. The note of this