LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 73 



repeat. Such chances are taken advantage of by men in search of game ; if 

 near shore they run to the nearest point where the clucks disappeared, and 

 when they come to the surface shoot into the flock, sometimes killing a 

 large number. The same tactics can be employed using a boat. They are not 

 bad eating if the skin is removed. 



Westward the winter range extends at least to the Commander 

 and Kurile Islands. Probably all the birds which breed in eastern 

 Siberia and Alaska winter in some of the resorts named above. But 

 there is evidently a westward migration also, along the Arctic coast 

 of Europe to a well-known winter resort in the unfrozen waters off 

 the coast of Norway ; this flight is probably made up of birds which 

 breed in western Siberia or northern Europe. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Breeding range. — Coasts of northwestern America and northern 

 Asia. East on the Arctic coast of America to Point Barrow, Alaska, 

 and perhaps farther. South regularly, in the Bering Sea region, 

 to St. Lawrence Island, Anadyr Bay, and Kamchatka; recorded as 

 breeding on the Aleutian and Shumagin Islands and on the Alaska 

 Peninsula, (Morzhovia Bay), but probably only sparingly and 

 irregularly. The main breeding range is on the Arctic coast of 

 Siberia from Bering Straits westward, at least as far as the Taimyr 

 Peninsula, and perhaps on Nova Zembla. 



Winier range. — The vicinity of the Aleutian Islands, eastward on 

 the south side of the Alaska Peninsula to the Shumagin Islands and 

 the Kenai Peninsula. Westward to the Commander and Kurile 

 Islands. North in Bering Sea as far as open water extends. A few 

 winter in northern Europe, as far west as Scandinavia, Heligoland, 

 Denmark, and the Baltic Sea. 



Spring migration, — Arrivals have been noted at Point Barrow, 

 Alaska, as early as June 5 and at Nijni Kolymsk, northern Siberia, 

 June 9. First seen at Cape Prince of Wales, May 12, and a heavy 

 flight on June 3. The last birds leave the Commander Islands from 

 May 25 to 31, and leave Nushagak, Alaska, about May 20. 



Fall migration. — Early dates of arrival in the Bering Sea region : 

 St. Michael, September 21 ; Nushagak, October 8 ; Commander Is- 

 lands, November 1. Late dates of departure : Point Barrow, Septem- 

 ber 17; St. Michael, October 15; Ugashik, November 28. No dates 

 are available for the migrations to and from the European winter 

 range, which is probably occupied by birds breeding in western Si- 

 beria. 



Casual records. — Accidental in Greenland (Disco Bay, August, 

 1878), Quebec (Godbout, February 17, 1898), England (Norfolk, 



