DUCKS 



141 



When it is considered that the minnow? on 

 which the Buffle-head feeds to a considerable 

 extent eat egg's of trout and other food fishes, 

 it seems probable that it is a useful bird, and 

 certainly it is a very interesting one. Its dimi- 

 nution on the Atlantic sea-board has been de- 

 plorably rapid. In 1870 Samuels regarded it as 

 a " very common and wel! known bird " in New 

 England and abundant in migration. At its pres- 

 ent rate of decrease, another century will see its 



extinction as surely as the last century saw that 

 of the Great Auk and the Labrador Onck. Its 

 rate of decrease should be watched, and, if neces- 

 sary, a close season should he declared for 

 several years in every State and province where 

 it breeds or which it visits in its annual migra- 

 tions. It is unsafe to procrastinate in matters of 

 this kind. 



Eu\v.\Ri) Howe Forbush, in Uaiiir Binis. 

 Jl'ild-Fcncl and Shore Binls. 



OLD-SQUAW 



Harelda hyemalis {LiiDiiciis 



A. O V. Xunil.cr 15 



Other Names. — Long-tailed Duck ; Long-tail : Swal- 

 low-tailed Duck; South-southerly; Old Wife; Old 

 Injin; Old Granny: Old Molly; Old Billy; John 

 Connolly ; L^ncle Huldy ; Coween or Cowheen ; Calloo ; 

 Cockawee ; Scoldenore ; Scolder ; Quandy ; Squeaking 

 Duck ; Winter Duck ; Hound. 



General Description. — Length, male -'3 inches ; 

 female 10 inches. In summer the males are black and 

 brown above, and white below ; in winter they show 

 more white and less dark ; females are grayish-brown 

 above, and whitish shaded with dark below. Both 

 sexes are without crests, have comparatively short 

 necks, and short bills; males have long slender tails, the 

 two central feathers of which are elongated. 



Color. — Adult Male in Summer Plumage: Lores 

 broadly, space ahuvc eye, sides of head a)id elieelcs. 

 silvery gray: forehead, cro'cvn, and hack of head, hlack- 

 ish-hrozcn : rest of neck all around, upper back, and 

 breast, dark chocolate-brown : upper parts and long tail- 

 feathers, blackish ; shoulders, yellowish-brown striped 

 with darker: shorter tail-feathers, whitish: wing, 

 dusky; under parts, white; bill, flesh color with black 

 tip and base; feet, bluish-gray with dusky web; iris, 

 yellow, orange, or red. ./Vdult Male in Winter: Head, 

 ■neck, fore-hack, and upper breast, ivhite : a gray patch 

 commenchui in fnnit of eye, including clieeks and side 

 of head, exlendimi doz^ni side of neck in a point, chang- 



See Color I'hitf 20 



ing to rufous; nii|n.r parts, including long tail-feathers, 

 black : shoulders, broadly white ; lower breast with a 

 large patch of deep brown rounded behind, running up 

 and meeting black of back; rest of under parts, pure 

 white. Adult Female in Summer: Head, neck, and 

 upper parts, dark grayish-brown, paler on throat, with 

 a grayish-white patch around eye and another below on 

 side of neck; under parts, white shaded across breast 

 and on sides with ashy-brown ; hill, mostly dusky 

 with a light space in center. Adult Fe.male in Wi.xter: 

 Crown, back of head, and back of neck, mottled gray- 

 ish and brown ; rest of head and neck, white with a 

 dusky patch back of eye; upper parts, dusky-brown; 

 shoulders, mixed with lighter brown and gray ; breast 

 shaded with grayish: rest of under parts, white; bill, 

 dusky. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Placed under bushes or 

 .grass near water ; constructed of grasses and dry weed 

 stems and lined with feathers and down. EGf:s : 5 to 

 1;. from dull pea-green to light olive-bufif. 



Distribution. — Northern hemisphere; in North 

 .\merica breeds from Alaska across British America 

 to Labrador, principally beyond the tree limit ; winters 

 from the Aleutian Islands to Washington and from 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence south to the Great Lakes and 

 North Carolina and rarely to Colorado, Texas. Louisi- 

 ana, and Florida. 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



OLD-SQUAW ll nat. size) 

 II has earned this name from its propensity to ceaseless chattering 



