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. [Illustration: 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 (called _foulques_ in 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.