DUCKS 



149 



below the surface. This may be an exaggeration. 

 Under water they use both legs and wings for 

 propulsion, and are even more at home there 

 than in the air. If threatened with danger they 

 are as likelv to dive as to fly, and sometimes, 

 when in full flight, they have been seen to dive 

 The Scoters are uni\ersally known as Coots 

 along the New England coast, a n:inie derived 

 probablv from the French fishermen who first 

 established the fishing industry on the banks of 

 Newfoundland. The true Coot, however, is 

 a lobe-footed fresh-water bird. 



As food. Ducks of this genus are regarded as 

 nourishing but not very appetizing. Some 

 writers liave gone so far as to stigmatize them as 

 abominable ; but the people of Cape Cod are able. 



<iuite as likely to mix with flocks of the other 

 Scoters. The flight of the .Scoters is swift, i 

 have heard it estimated at 200 miles an hour with 

 a strong wind, but this is jirobablv exaggerated. 

 They may possibly fly at the rate of over 100 

 miles an hour under favorable conditions, ])ut 

 this is a high rate of speed for any bird. This 

 bird usually flies in lines at some distance from 

 the shore, antl the flocks are often led bv an ol<l 

 experienced male, who will lead his following 

 high in air while passing over the boats where 

 gunners lie in wait. 



In migration this bird is often seen in flocks 

 of too or more, and in smaller groups at other 

 times. l)ut it associates with the other two species. 

 Little is known about its earlv abundance, but it 



Drawing I>\- R. I. Brasher 



SCOTER (S nat. size) 

 As food, this Duck is nourishing, but not very appetizing 



by parboiling, etc., to make a dish of even the 

 old birds, which, though it may " taste a little like 

 crow " to the uninitiated, serves as an agreeable 

 variant to a diet of salt lish. 



A cultured Boston lady assures lue that when 

 she attempted to cook a Coot it drove everybody 

 out of the house, and that she had to throw away 

 the kettle that it was cooked in. Nevertheless, 

 I have found the young palatable if properly pre- 

 pared, though hardly equal to the celery-fed 

 Canvas-back. Many -Scoters are shot for food 

 and sold in the markets, but large numbers are 

 killed merely for sport, and either left to lie 

 where they fall or to drift away on the tide. 



The American Scoter, Black Coot, or Little 

 Cray Coot, as it is commonly called, while a 

 common bird, is the least numerous of the three 

 Scoters. While at times it keeps bv itself it is 



is ])rol)able that on the Atlantic it has decreased 

 more in |)roportion to its former numbers than 

 the other two common species. It is far more 

 numerous now on the Pacific coast than on the 

 Atlantic. So little is known of its breeding 

 grounds in northeastern North America that 

 Professor Cooke is obliged to reason, by exclu- 

 sion, that as we have no record of its breeding 

 west of Hudson Bay until we reach the Yukon 

 valley, nor in Labrador south of about latitude 

 32 degrees, the multitudes seen in winter on the 

 Atlantic coast must breed east of Hudson Bay, 

 in northern LTngava. As this is one of the least 

 explored regions of the world, it is quite possible 

 that vast numbers of .Scoters and Mergansers 

 breed there. It breeds mainly in fresh-water 

 marshes and ponds in the north and also x^ton 

 islands in the sea. It is a very expert diver, and 



