DUCES 



255 



Harlequin Duck. Histrionicus histrionicus (Linnaeus) 



Field characters. — Size, smaller than Mallard; bill small for a duck's; general color- 

 ation very dark. Male: Dark slate blue, strikingly marked with white patches on head, 

 body and wings, and white ring around neck; flanks chestnut. Female: Dull dark 

 brown with two white patches on each side of head — one on cheek, and one on ear region. 

 (See fig. 37.) 



Occurrence. — Infrequent summer visitant to the larger streams of the Transition 

 Zone. Adults and young seen on Merced River in Yosemite Valley near Sentinel Bridge. 



Fig. 37. The Harlequin Duck (female at left, male at right). 



At dusk on several evenings in late April, 1916, a small dark-colored 

 duck was seen to fly up the Merced River in the vicinity of Sentinel Bridge, 

 Yosemite Valley, and then to begin diving and drifting down-stream. On 

 May 7 of the same year, this or another duck of the same species, which 

 was unquestionably the Harlequin, was seen on the river with four duck- 

 lings about four days old. In 1920, Mr. C. W. Michael (MS) saw a pair 

 in the same place on May 11 and 26, and June 4, and he saw a lone female 

 on July 28. These are the only actual occurrences of this species in the 

 area included in our field studies, recorded to the end of 1920. But the 

 Harlequin Duck has several times been recorded as breeding along swift- 

 flowing streams on the west flank of the Sierra Nevada at localities in the 

 Transition Zone immediately to the north of Yosemite Park. It is reason- 

 able to expect that a careful watch in early summer will bring to notice 

 other instances of the nesting of this remarkable bird within the Park 

 itself. So far, very little is kno-RTi of its summer habits. 



