190 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



up ahead of it. The dates vary greatly in different seasons depend- 

 ing on the breaking up of winter conditions, but the migration often 

 begins in Februaiy and is generally well under way by early March. 

 The general direction is northwestward over the Great Lakes, for the 

 birds wintering on the Atlantic coast, northward from the Gulf of 

 Mexico through the Mississippi Valley and northward and eastward 

 from Mexico and the Pacific coast, in converging lines toward its 

 main breeding grounds in the prairie and plains region of central 

 Canada. 



Courtship. — ^All through the spring immense flocks of canvasbacks 

 congregate on the larger lakes on or near their breeding grounds, 

 floating in dense masses far out from shore, playing, feeding, or rest- 

 ing until the time arrives to break up into pairs for the breeding sea- 

 son. This usually occurs before the middle of May, but I have seen 

 them in large flocks as late as the last week in May in southern Sas- 

 katchewan. I have never seen their courtship performances and can 

 not find any description of them in print. But Dr. Arthur A. Allen 

 has sent me the following interesting notes on what he has observed 

 under somewhat artificial conditions. 



Upon several occasions prior to 1917 I had observed small ^lo^ps of canvasbacks 

 on Cayuga Lake behaving in a manner which I took to be their courtship performs 

 ance. Several females would draw together holding their heads up and their neck- 

 stiff until they were almost toucliing breast to breast, when about an equal number 

 of males would swim rapidly around them. Occasionally the males were seen to 

 throw their heads back toward tlieir tails, or one of the females would dart out at a 

 male that approached more closely. These performances took place at some distance 

 from shore, however, and many of the details were missed. 



During February of 1917, however, several pairs of canvasbacks were captured and 

 placed with clipped wings on a small pond within 100 feet of my windows where they 

 could easily be observed. They became quite tame in a remarkably short time and 

 before the summer was over would eat from one's hand About the middle of April 

 they were first observed going through their courtship performances, and, inasmuch 

 as they paid scant attention to one on the shore of the pond less than 20 feet away, 

 every detail could be watched. First signs of excitement were evidenced by the 

 males wliich began to call. As the canvasback is normally a very quiet duck this 

 immediately attracted my attention. The call consists of three syllables ick, ick, 

 cooo, with a little interval between the second and third. When the first two syllables 

 are being produced the bird opens his bill slightly and then with considerable force 

 appears to inhale quickly, jerking his bill as he does so. It appears as though this 

 sudden inhalation abruptly closes the glottis so as to produce the two rather high- 

 pitched, sharp, quick, ick, ick notes. Accompanying these notes the back of the 

 neck swells and the feathers rise as though a gulp of air were being swallowed. 

 Immediately, however, it seems as though exhalation occurred with the bill closed, 

 accompanied by a low cooo like a muffled bark or distant moo of a cow and not so 

 very different from the ordinary grunting note of the male bird when alarmed. 

 Accompanying this note the chin swells out for an instant with a curious swelling 

 about the size of an ordinary marble. 



Very frequently this note was accompanied by the head-throwing performance, 

 already referred to, the tc^, ick notes being given when the head was thrown back, 

 and the cooo when the head was brought forward again, the swelling on the cliin 



