WATER BIRDS 



increased in numbers, owing, I believe, to the 

 stopping of spring shooting, and also, I am 

 inclined to think, to the action of M. Meunier, 

 the chocolate king of France. This gentleman 

 has acquired the great island of Anticosti in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and has excluded all 

 guns from his realms. Anticosti is a wonder- 

 ful breeding ground for various water-fowl, 

 and among them the sheldrake abounds. 



On a late October day in 1910 the water 

 outside of Ipswich beach for its entire length 

 seemed to be filled with sheldrakes. Every- 

 where one looked were small and large flocks 

 of these birds, either sitting on the water, 

 swimming about and diving, or restlessly 

 rising up and flying to and fro. It was a won- 

 derful sight, and my companion, a most cau- 

 tious and conscientious observer, estimated in 

 his enthusiasm at least fifty thousand birds. 

 There may have been many more. But it can 

 safely be said that there were at least twenty- 

 five thousand. 



Although it is not uncommon to find two or 

 three red-breasted mergansers spending the 

 summer, none breed here,^ but in the autumn 

 great hordes come from the north. After the 

 first or middle of November they fall off 



1 Since this was written there have been a few breeding records. 



141 



