BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 165 



many at that time iii fair weather. Li migration this species 

 ordinarily flies high, but, Hke others, it flies close to the water 

 in strong, adverse winds. All Scoters often fly rather low in 

 their daily flights on the feeding grounds. The great north- 

 ward flight of this species begins rarely as early as the second 

 week in April, but usually during the latter half of the month. 

 Adverse weather sometimes delays it. The majority go east 

 toward Nova Scotia, and these probably breed on the islands 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the coasts and islands of 

 Labrador and Hudson Bay, as well as in the fresh-w^ater ponds 

 of the Labrador peninsula, where they are said to nest in 

 larger numbers than the so-called fresh-water Ducks. Ap- 

 parently there is a small flight of this species which leaves its 

 winter resort south of Cape Cod in May and flies northwest 

 overland. The birds composing this flight probably breed in 

 the far north to the west of Hudson Bay, in the lakes and 

 ponds of the interior or on the shores and islands of the 

 Arctic Sea. 



The " Coots " mate early, before the spring migration com- 

 mences, and after they are mated if one be shot the other will 

 follow it down to the water, and if frightened away will come 

 back again. Therefore the gunner who understands their 

 habits seldom fails to bag both. Mackay states that between 

 April 15 and April 25 he has taken " eggs " from the ovary 

 of the female that varied in size from that of a cherry stone 

 to that of a robin's egg. This Scoter is an expert diver, and 

 can swim such a long distance under water that it is easy for 

 it to escape a gunner in a sailboat by constantly changing the 

 direction of its flight under water. All the Scoters are hard 

 to kill, and many a man has shot several times at a wounded 

 bird before he has taken it. Sometimes a cripple, if pursued, 

 will dive to the bottom, and seizing some marine plant with 

 its bill will hold on and commit suicide by drowning rather 

 than submit to capture by its greatest and most persistent 

 enemy. 



Nine Surf Scoters dissected by Mr. W. L. McAtee of the 

 Biological Survey had eaten mussels, 79.6 per cent.; peri- 

 winkles, 13.8 per cent.; algae and eelgrass, 6.6 per cent. 



