igo2] Saunders — The American Scoter in Middlesex. 28 



3 



again. A passing car caused it to go a little farther and soon 

 after, by a careful sneak, I g^ot another shot, this time with 

 success. In a moment or two the duck revived and beg-an to 

 swim vigorously for the shore. When it lagged, I dropped a 

 bullet from a smokeless cartridge just outside of the duck, which 

 then made a fresh start for the shore, which after several such 

 spurts was reached, and my prey hid among the irregular sods at 

 edge of the water, out of my sight. To kill it was then the 

 problem, but after carefully searching the shore from several 

 points, I managed so badly as to appear right above it and it 

 started for mid stream in hot haste. Before long it was dead, but 

 the wind being almost directly up stream refused to bring it 

 within reach, nor would the current, but the latter, on the con- 

 trary, neutralized the effect of bullet after bullet, which I dropped 

 carefully from the rifle, just beyond the dead bird. Eventually the 

 wind drifted it up stream past a point which was my last hope, 

 and from which, standing barefooted in the icy water, I was un- 

 able to reach it with a long stick, and I realized that I must get it 

 from the other shore. This meant walking three-quarters of a 

 mile to the bridge, and then back again. By the time this was 

 accomplished the duck had nearly reached the shore and in a few 

 minutes I had the pleasure of handling an unknown specimen 

 which I guessed was a Scoter. Without staying to plug its 

 mouth, I started in hot haste for business, the time being about 

 9.30, and in a few minutes was disgusted to notice that the old 

 adage, " more haste and less speed" was being proved once more 

 by the numerous splashes of blood on my trousers. This necessi- 

 tated a stop to wash them in the river, and once more I started 

 for town, this time without further mishap. 



On examining the bird with the aid of Ridgway's Manual 

 it was easily seen to be the American Scoter {Oidemia Americana), 

 a bird not hitherto recorded for the county although it is a regular 

 visitant, probably in restricted numbers, to the great lakes. 



