86 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



winter, the head, neck and body anteriorly, white, but tlie gray cheek patch 

 persistent, and a large dark patch below this ; bill, at all seasons, black, broadly 

 orange barred. Femcde: — Without lengthened scapulars or tail feathers; the 

 bill, dusky greenish, and otherwise dilfercTit ; but recognized by presence of 

 head and neck patches, and absence of white on the wing. Length, l.")--2fi or 

 more, according to tail ; M'ing, 8-9. 



H.AB. — Northern hemisphere, in Xoi-th America .soutli to the Potomac and 

 the Ohio; breeds far northward. 



Nest, on the ground. 



Eggs, six or seven, drab color, shaded w itli green. 



Vast numbers of "cowheeus" (as these birds ai'e called here) spend 

 the winter in Lake Ontario, out on the deep water away from the 

 shore. Even there they are not free from danger, for great numbers 

 get entangled in the gill nets. Passing along the beach in winter, 

 strings of drowned, draggled cowheens mav be seen dangling from 

 the clothes lines about the fishermen's outhouses. I have freijuently 

 heard the fishermen, wlien trying to force a sale, declare positively, 

 that if buried in the earth for tw^enty-four hours before l)eing pre- 

 pared for the table, these birds are excellent eating. Notwithstand- 

 ing this assertion, the sui:)ply still keeps ahead of the demand, and 

 numbers are turned over to the pigs, a sorrowful end for the beau- 

 tiful, lively Clangula hyemalls. 



This species frequents the northern shores of both continents, 

 making its summer home in the Arctic regions, where, among the 

 tall grass by the margins of retired lakes and ponds, tlie nests are 

 found in great numbers. Nelson says, regarding its place among the 

 birds of Alaska : " The Old .Scjuaw is the first duck to reach high 

 northern latitudes in .spring, and aloiit; the Alaskan coast of IJehring 

 Sea is one of the most al)undant species fluring the summer. The 

 seal hunters find them in <)()en spaces in the ice off »St. ^richael's, 

 from the 1st to the 20th April, l)ut the first open water iieai' the 

 shore is sure to attract them, in the tall tliev retreat l)ef()ic tlie ice, 

 and by the 15th or 20th October they arc eithei- on theii- way south 

 or well out to sea." 



"During the pairing seascm the males lia\-e a rich, musical note, 

 frequently repeated in deep, reed-like t(jnes. Amid the general 

 chorus of water-fowl whicli is heard at this season, the notes of the 

 Old Scjuaw are so harmoiiir)us that the fur-ti-aders of the upjier 

 Yukon have christened him the Organ Duck, a well-merited name. 

 I have frequently stopped and listened with deep pleasure to these 

 harmonious tones wliile travei-sing the broad maishes in the dim 

 twilight at midniglit, and while passing a lonely month on the drear}' 



