486 ANATID^. 



uttered a rougli, uncouth, guttural cry, somewhat resemhhng 

 that of the Goosander on similar occasions ; and I have 

 never heard any other sound from either sex. The Surf 

 Duck is a powerful swimmer and an expert diver ; it is 

 frequently observed fishing at the depth of several fathoms ; 

 and it floats buoyantly among the surf or the raging billows, 

 where it seems as unconcerned as if it were on the most 

 tranquil waters." 



Wilson says, " This Duck is confined to the shores and 

 bays of the sea, particularly where the waves roll over the 

 sandy beach. Their food consists principally of small 

 bivalve shell-fish, spout-fish, and others that lie in the sand 

 near its surface. For these they dive almost constantly, 

 both in the sandy bays and amidst the tumbling surf. They 

 seldom or never visit the salt marshes. They continue on 

 our shores during the winter, and leave us early in May for 

 their breeding-places in the North. Their skins are remark- 

 ably strong, and their flesh coarse, tasting of fish." 



The Surf Scoter has occasionally been known to fly 

 against the lanterns of lighthouses : an action very unusual 

 in this group of Ducks. Mr. Giraud relates that when at 

 Montauk Point, in the autumn of 1834, on walking out in 

 the morning, after a very stormy night, and looking up at 

 the lighthouse, he was surprised to see a bird suspended 

 from the wire frame by which the glass is protected. On 

 taking it down, he found it to be a Surf Scoter. The wind 

 having been very high the night before, and the water 

 having doubtless become so rough that the bird was obliged 

 to take wing, it was attracted by the light, and flying with 

 great force, thrust its head through the wires, and in this 

 situation was strangled. 



The adult male has the beak orange-red, deeper above 

 the nostrils, with a square patch of black on each side at 

 the base of the upper mandible ; irides straw-yellow ; on 

 the top of the head and on the back of the neck are two 

 conspicuous oval patches of white ; all the rest of the 

 plumage black ; legs and toes orange-red, the membranes 

 brownish-black. The whole length twenty-one inches. 



