84 BIRDS OF THE HUDSON HIGHLANDS ; 



pleasant sound ! As long as the smallest spot remains unfrozen, the 

 ''Whistlers" stay upon the Hudson; and I have seen them flying 

 northward when the river was entirely closed above West Point. 



Dimensions. — Measurements of No. 819 $, Highland Falls, N. Y., 

 December 8, 1875, E. A. M. : length, 17*13; stretch, 29-00; wing, 7-81 ; 

 tail, 3-00. 



189. Clangula albeoia, Linne. Butterball; Bufflehead. 

 A very common winter resident. It occasionally frequents small 

 inland ponds. 



190. Harelda glacialis, Linne. Old Squaw; Long-tailed 

 Duck. A very abundant spring and fall migrant, and winter resident 

 when the Hudson is not frozen. 



When heard at a distance, the loud cackling notes of hundreds of 

 Old Squaws, borne from afar on frosty winds, strike the ear most 

 pleasantly, bearing sweet remembrances of happy days spent on blue 

 billows, amid the whistling wings of gay water-fowl and the beauteous 

 forms of sea-birds. When the water is rough, the Old Squaws are 

 reluctant to take to flight, or, perhaps, are more gentle than at other 

 times. As you approach, they become greatly disturbed, however, 

 and some of the old males get so much excited that they are barely 

 able to sit upon the water. The females commonly dive, coming to 

 the surface at an increased distance from you. The males elevate 

 their tails until they stick perpendicularly upward, and rapidly vibrate 

 them, at the same time throwing their heads backward, and turning 

 around so swiftly on the water as to seem at times fairly to spin like 

 a top, and croak loudly all the time. 



On the 3d of November, 1879, I made the following observation on 

 the rapidity of the flight of the Long-tailed Duck : — just after leaving 

 the Sing Sing depot, going south on the Hudson River Railroad, a 

 small flock of Old Wives arose from the water and flew in a direct 

 course down the Hudson. Their white colors were very distinctly 

 visible, as seen against the deep blue of the river. I noticed that they 

 maintained about the same relative position with regard to the train, 

 which, however, had not yet gotten under full headway; but the 

 Ducks changed their course at intervals^ and at times they would rise 

 in the air, separating from each other, and then descending swiftly to 

 near the surface of the water; then, for a time, the impetus thus ac- 

 quired would carry them onward at an accelerated speed. As our 

 train got fairly under way, and, fortunately for my observation, the 

 Ducks ceased to move indirectly, and skimmed along close to the 

 water, keeping about in the middle of the river. It so happened that 

 the regular rate of speed at which the train moved was exactly equal 

 to the rate at which the Ducks flew ; accordingly they kept their rela- 

 tive position opposite to us as long as our course lay along the river; 



