78 



THE LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



HARLEQUIN DOCK. 



"breeds apart from all other Ducks. In Kamscbatka it affects the 



same retired and remark 

 able romantic situations; 

 like the alpine Cinclus, it 

 seeks out the most rocky 

 and agitated torrents; in 

 such situations it has 

 been seen in the rivulet? 

 of Hudson's Bay, as 

 much as ninety miles in- 

 land from the sea ; here 

 it seeks out its appro- 

 priate fare of spawn, 

 shell-fish, and the larvae 

 of aquatic or fluviatile 

 insects. On the low 

 bushy and shady banks of these streams it constructs its nest, which 

 contains from twelve to fourteen pure white eggs. On the margins 

 of fresh-water ponds in Labrador Mr. Audubon also observed this 

 ■pecies, and he remarks, that instead of rearing their young in the 

 same situations chosen for breeding, as with the Velvet and Surf 

 Duck, it conducts its brood to the sea as soon as they are hatched. 

 Its flight is high and swift; and it swims and dives with the 

 utmost dexterity. So great is its confidence in the security of its 

 most natural element, that on the report of a gun over the water, 

 it instantly quits its flight and dives at once with the celerity of 

 thought. It is said to be clamorous, and that its voice is a sort of 

 whistle; the anatomy of the trachea is however, unknown, and it ia 

 not said whether this sibilation be really produced from the throat or 

 the wings, as is the latter case in the Common Clangula or Golden 

 Eye. Driven from their solitary resorts in the interior by the invasion 

 of frost, they are now seen out at sea engaged in obtaining a different 

 mode of subsistence. Amidst these icy barriers they still continue to 

 endure the rigors of winter, continually receding further out to sea, 

 or making limited and almost accidental visits to milder regions. 

 When discovered, they display the utmost vigilance, and instantly 

 take to wing. It is considered to be a game superior in flavor to the 

 Common Wild Duck. From the singular and beautiful crescent- 

 shaped lines and marks which ornament its neck and breast it has 

 probably come by the dignified appellation of lord, among the fishers 

 of Newfoundland. It is here too rare to have acquired any particulftT 

 name. 



THE LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



This elegant and noisy Duck, known so generally in the Southern 

 States by the nickname of " South-Southerly," from its note, and, in 

 most other parts by the appellation of " Old Squaws" or " Old Wives," 

 is an Arctic inhabitant of both continents, and abounds in the glacia 



