LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 143 



MELANITTA PERSPICILLATA (Linnaeus) 

 SURF SCOTER 



HABITS 



This is probably the most abimdant and certainly the most widely 

 distributed of the three American species of scoters. It is widely 

 and well known on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and in some of 

 the more northern localities it is exceedingly abimdant. The enor- 

 mous flights of scoters, or "coots." as they are called, which pour 

 along our coasts in the spring and fall are made up mainly of surf 

 scoters and white-winged scoters; every gunner knows them, and 

 most of the residents along the New England coasts have tasted the 

 delights of coot stew. 



Spring. — The abundance of the surf scoter on the spring migra- 

 tion is well illustrated by the following quotation from Mr. Dresser, 

 given by J. G. Millais (1913), based on observations made at 

 Lepreaux Lighthouse, in the Bay of Fundy : 



On my arrival there on April 25 myriads of ducks were flying: past, among 

 which surf scoters were more numerous than any other species. They fol- 

 lowed the line of the coast at a short distance from the shore, and in passing 

 the point generally steered close in or flew over the end of the point itself. On 

 the 26th I spent the dny among the rooks, and I never recollect seeing water- 

 fowl in such countless numbers as I did on that day, all wending their way 

 northward. Velvet, common, and especially surf scoters were the most numer- 

 ous : but there were also many eiders, brent geese, long-tailed ducks, with a 

 few harlequins, great northern divers, and some others. The surf scoters flew 

 in large, compact flocks, from 8 to 10 deep. I estimated the length of the 

 flocks by watching them as they passed certain points, the distance between 

 which was known to me, and I found that one compact flock was at least half 

 a mile in length, a second reaching from one point to another, distant nearly 

 a mile and a quarter. I made several telling shots amongst them, knocking 

 over 8 at one discharge and 6 and 4 at a double shot, though I was only using 

 a light l.'j-bore gun. I found them, however, very hard to recover, for during 

 the time the dog was retrieving them one or two were sure to come to and 

 paddle off, and the sea was too rough to go out in a boat to pick up the crip- 

 ples. The males proved to be far more numerous than the females, of which 

 sex I only killed .3 during the whole day. 



George H. Mackay (1891) writes: 



In the spring mating begins before the northward migration commences, 

 as T have taken eggs from females, between the 15th and 25th of April, 

 wliich varied in size from a cherry stone to a robin's egg. During this period 

 the duck when flying is always closely followed by the drake, and wherever 

 she goes he follows; if she is shot, he continues to return to the spot until 

 also killed. I have often on firing at a flock shot out a female: the moment 

 she commences to fall she is followed by her mate; he remains with her, 

 or flies off a short distance, only to return again and again until killed, 

 regardless of previous shots fired at him. I have never seen any such devo- 

 tion on the part of the female ; she always \ises the utmost speed in flying 

 away from the spot, and never returns to it. 



