64 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



shoot the birds. Most of such islets are, of course, easily ransacked and de- 

 . populated. Having no asylum to turn to, for the shores of the mainland were 

 infested by the four-footed enemies just mentioned, and (unlike some of its 

 congeners) it had not a high northern range, its fate is easily understood. 



Maj. W. Ross King (1866), who spent three years shooting in and 

 about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, previous to 1866, says: "The pied 

 duck or Labrador duck is common in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 and breeds on its northern shore, a short distance inland." The 

 foregoing quotations, though meager and unsatisfactory, contain 

 about all we know about the breeding habits of the Labrador duck. 



Food. — Very little seems to have been recorded about its food 

 and feeding habits. Audubon (1840) says: 



A bird stuffer whom I knew at Camden had many fine specimens, all of 

 which he had procured by baiting fishhooks with the common mussel, on a 

 trot-line sunk a few feet beneath the surface, but on which he never found 

 one alive, on account of the manner in which these ducks dive and flounder 

 when securely hooked. It procures its food by diving amidst the rolling 

 surf over sand or mud bars ; although at times it comes along the shore and 

 searches in the manner of the spoon-bill duck. Its usual fare consists of 

 small shellfish, fry, and various kinds of seaweeds, along with which it 

 swallows much sand and gravel. 



Other writers say that it fed on shellfish which it obtained by 

 diving on the sand shoals, whence it derived the common name of 

 "sand shoal duck." 



Mr. S. F. Cheney, of Grand Manan, wrote to William Dutcher 

 (1891) in 1890: 



The female Labrador duck I gave to Mr. Herrick was with some oldsquaws 

 or long-tailed ducks when I shot it, and I think there were no others of the 

 kind with it. This one had small shells in its crop. It dove to the bottom 

 with the squaws. 



Behavior. — Audubon (1840) wrote: 



Its flight is swift, and its wings emit a whistling sound. It is usually seen 

 in flocks of from 7 to 10, probably the members, of one family. 



Col. Nicholas Pike sent to William Dutcher (1891) the following 

 interesting account of his experiences with the Labrador duck: 



I have in my life shot a number of these beautiful birds, though I have 

 never met more than two or three at a time, and mostly single birds. The 

 whole number I ever shot would not exceed a dozen, for they were never 

 plentiful. I rarely met with them. The males in full plumage were ex- 

 ceedingly rare ; I think I never met with more than three or four of these ; 

 the rest were young males and females. They were shy and hard to approach, 

 taking flight from the water at the least alarm, flying very rapidly. Their 

 familiar haunts were the sandbars where the water was shoal enough for 

 them to pursue their favorite food, small shellfish. I have only once met 

 with this duck south of Massachusetts Bay. In 1858, one solitary male came to 

 my battery in Great South Bay, Long Island, near Quogue, and settled among 

 my stools. I had a fair chance to hit him, but in my excitement to procure 



