JOURNAL OP MAINE ORNITHOI.OGICAL SOCIETY. 67 



when a heavy southerly gale is blowing, with rain. At such times 

 they seem to reason that out at sea is not a desirable place and they 

 cling to the open waters of the bay, even with its many dangers, 

 until forced to go. 



Few gunners or naturalists who visit the bay become acquainted 

 with the main flock of Black Ducks, excepting as they hear the 

 sound of their rushing wings as they rise from the grass and fly sea- 

 ward before it is sufficiently light to see even the outline of the 

 flock, and the wish is often expressed that they might have just 

 one look during daylight at what to them is a vast, yet unknown 

 quantity. It was the writer's good fortune on the first day of No- 

 vember to behold this famous concourse of water fowl at his leis- 

 ure, to note their formation on the water, their actions, and to view 

 plainly the motions of the thousands of pairs of wings as they made 

 the shores of the bay echo with that terrific roar when rising, to 

 watch them circling in mid-air and their gradual return to the water 

 again. 



On this particular morning we left the shore in our float just 

 before bay break. It was raining and the wind was blowing a gale 

 from the south — not a very comfortable-feeling morning when lying 

 in the bottom of a wet float, but that is one of the trifles well-sea- 

 soned duck hunters don't mind. The Great Sands appeared to be 

 fairly alive with ducks feeding in the wild rice. We could hear 

 them in every direction. A little further out and the air was sud- 

 denly filled with a rumble, and then a roar like an earthquake, and 

 we knew the birds had started. Our surprise was greater, however, 

 when we heard them settle again out on the open water, for such a 

 course was very unusual. 



We worked our way slowly down the channel, facing the 

 cold, cutting raindrops, and waited for daylight, which soon came 

 and brought to us a sight never to be forgotten. Before us was 

 this horde of water fowl which previously had been known to us 

 only by sound when shielded by darkness. It was a beautiful 

 sight. Extending from the "Chops" way up past Brick Island for 

 more than a mile in the Cathance channel was an unbroken line of 



