LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 189 



gun will do great executiou in their serried ranks. I have seldom fired at pochards 

 on the sea, but one frosty morning in February, 1891, when returning from an unsuc- 

 cessful raid on the widgeon in Castle Stuart Bay, Moray Firth, I spied a small but 

 dense flock of duck in Campbeltown Bay, not far from the village. These were about 

 60 pochards driven to the sea by stress of weather from the various Nairnshire lochs. 

 Knowing that they would be tame and had doubtless never seen a punt, I reserved 

 fire until I was within 80 yards, and cut a clear lane right through the flock, killing 

 dead 20 birds, and afterwards recovering 2 winged ones. On the east coast of Scot- 

 land such a shot with the big gun is rare, but I have seen occasions on Loch lyoven 

 (where. Heaven forbid, a punt gun should ever be used) and the Loch of Strathbeg 

 when a very much larger number of birds could easily have been killed. There are 

 sometimes good opportunities of getting a shot at these ducks at flight, when they 

 leave the estuaries or large lakes, and pass out to feed on smaller sheets of water at 

 dusk. I was once waiting at a point on the Island of Mugdrum, Tay Estuary, when, 

 hearing a* rush of wings, I looked up, and had just time to snap two barrels into a 

 flock of duck that passed on my left; the result was six pochards down, but I lost 

 two in the darkness. If it is desired to shoot pochards on a small lake, it is much 

 better to drive them off it, and staiiou the gun or guns away from the water, as this 

 form of shooting does not seem to terrify them nearly so much as stalking them from 

 the shore. They are not more or less difficult to kill than other diving ducks, but 

 require to be hit well forward, as winged birds may give much trouble. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Sub- Arc tic portions of Europe and Asia. East 

 to southern Siberia (Lake Baikal) . South to eastern Persia, the Cas- 

 pian Sea, northern Algeria, and southern Spain. West to the British 

 Isles. North to the Sub- Arctic portions of Scandinavia, Finland, and 

 Russia. 



Winter range. — From the Mediterranean Basin (Morocco to Egypt) 

 to India, China, and Japan. 



Casual records. — Wanders to Iceland, the Faroes, Azores, and 

 Canary Islands. Accidental in the Commander Islands (Bering 

 Island, May 13, 1911) and the Pribilof Islands (St. Paul Island, May 

 4,1912). 



ARISTONETTA VALISINERIA (WOson). 



CANVASBACK. 



HABITS. 



The lordly canvasback, the most famous American game bird, 

 from the standpoint of the epicure, is distinctly a Nearctic species 

 and was discovered or, at least, first described by Alexander Wilson. 

 It must have been taken by earlier sportsmen, but it was apparently 

 not recognized as different from its near relative the European 

 pochard, which it superficially resembles. 



Spring. — It is a hardy species wintering just below the frost line, 

 and one of our earliest migrants. The first spring flight appears 

 above the frost line before the ice disappears from the ponds, lingers 

 but a short time and passes on northward as fast as the ice breaks 



