THE HARLEQUIN DUCK. 377 



were at anchor, with their heads under their wings asleep; sentinels, 

 however, appear awake and ready to raise an alarm on the least 

 appearance of danger. At other times they are seen swimming 

 about the shoals, and diving after the sea-wrack, which they com- 

 monly pluck up, and select only the tenderest portion towards the 

 root. Though thus laboriously engaged, they are still extremely 

 shy, and can rarely be approached but by stratagem, for even while 

 feeding, several remain unemployed and vigilant against any sur- 

 prise. When wounded in the wing they dive to prodigious distances, 

 and with such rapidity, and perseverance as almost to render the 

 pursuit hopeless. The great demand and high estimation in which 

 these Dacks are held, spurs the ingenuity of the gunner to practise 

 every expedient which may promise success in their capture. They 

 are sometimes decoyed to shore or within gun-shot by means of a 

 dog trained for the purpose, which, playing backwards and forwards 

 along the shore, attracts the vacant curiosity of the birds, and as 

 they approach within a suitable distance the concealed fowler rakes 

 them first on the water, and afterwards as they rise. Sometimes by 

 moonlight the sportsman directs his skiff towards a flock, whose 

 position he had previously ascertained, and keeping within the pro- 

 jecting shadow of some wood, bank, or headland, he paddles silently 

 along to within fifteen or twenty yards of a flock of many thousands, 

 among whom he consequently makes great destruction. 



As the severity of the winter augments, and the rivers become 

 extensively frozen, the Canvass- Backs retreat towards the ocean, and 

 are then seen in the shallow bays which still remain open ; occa- 

 sionally also frequenting the air-holes in the ice, and openings which 

 are sometimes made for the purpose, immediately over the beds of 

 Bea grass, to entice them within gun-shot of the hut or bush fixed at 

 a convenient distance for commanding the hungry flocks. So urgent 

 sometimes are the Ducks for food in winter, that at one of these 

 artificial openings in the ice, in James' river, a Mr, Hill, according 

 to Wilson, accompanied by a second person, picked up from one oi 

 these decoys, at three rounds each, no less than eighty-eight Canvass- 

 Backs. The Ducks crowded to the place, so that the whole open 

 space was not only covered with them, but vast numbers, waiting 

 their turn, stood inactive on the ice around it. 



THE HARLEQUIN DUCK 



This singularly marked and beautiful species is almost a constant 

 resident of the hyperboreal regions of the northern hemisphere, from 

 which it migrates but short distances towards more temperate lati- 

 tudes, and is as in Europe a rare and almost accidental visiter as far 

 as the Middle States of the Union. It is however more frequent in 

 Eastern Europe up to Greenland; and common from lake Baikal to 

 Kamschatka. Now and then it is killed in Scotland and the Orkneys. 

 Dr. Richardson found it to be a rare bird in the fur countries, haunt- 

 ing eddies under cascades, and rapid streams, where it dwells and 



