478 Bird -Lore 



female. They chase each other about viciously, but no harm seems to come 

 of their threats; and they crowd around the female as though to force a decision. 

 She, in turn, chases them off with lowered head and outstretched neck, and 

 great show of displeasure. Now and then one flees in pretended flight and with 

 great commotion, only to settle down at a dozen yards and come sidling back. 

 If she will deign a moment's attention, the flattered gallant dips his head and 

 scoots lightly under the surface of the water, showering himself repeatedly with 

 his fluttering wings. One suitor swims about dizzily, half submerged, while 

 another rises from the water repeatedly, apparently to show the fair one how 

 little assistance he requires from his feet in starting, a challenge some of his cor- 

 pulent rivals dare not accept, I ween. I have watched them thus for half an 

 hour, off and on, and the villains still pursue her." 



At many points in the ocean along the New England Coast, where other 

 Ducks are not always abundant, the Scoters, locally known as Sea Coots, are 

 extensively pursued by gunners. In describing the methods of hunting them 

 in these regions George Bird Grinnell has written: 



"Ducking in line is a communal form of hunting. The gunners of a locality 

 agree all to go out on a certain day, and unless fifteen or twenty boats go it is 

 useless to make the start. The boats range themselves in a line off-shore, from 

 some headland or point which separates two bays in which the Ducks commonly 

 feed. The first boat is placed two or three hundred yards off the shore, the next 

 one a hundred yards outside of that, the next still further out, until the twenty 

 boats, extending out from the point, make a cordon of gunners, extending out 

 to sea nearly a mile from the point. Usually lots are drawn for position, those 

 nearest the shore not being so desirable as those farther out. An effort is made 

 to be on the ground before daylight, as the shooting begins with the earliest 

 dawn. Often, therefore, the gunners are obliged to rise at two or three o'clock 

 in the morning to make their way to the shore, get into their boats, and perhaps 

 pull a distance of three or four miles before reaching the ground. At other 

 times, all of them will congregate in some barn near the starting-point and sleep 

 there, and the start will be made together . . . 



"The sky grows brighter and brighter, more gunshots are heard, and pres- 

 ently the sun rises. Now, as one looks seaward, great bunches of birds can be 

 seen rising from the water, and these breaking up into small flocks in all 

 directions. Perhaps the first to approach the line will be a bunch of great ' Coots, ' 

 some of them white-winged, others dead black, and still others gray. They fly 

 swiftly and steadily, and come nearer and nearer, until they have almost 

 reached the line of boats, and then, noticing them — seemingly for the first 

 time — they try to check themselves; but it is too late to turn, and with swift 

 and steady flight, at wonderful speed, they fly on, passing between two of the 

 boats and twenty or thirty feet above the water. In each boat a man springs to 

 his knees, follows the swift course of the birds for an instant with his gun, 

 and fires." 



