SURF SCOTER. 227 



our anxious gaze, the Surf Duck was certainly not the least 

 numerous. It is true that in the noble bays of our own 

 coast, in the Sound, between New York and the Hook, on 

 the broader waters of the Chesapeake, and beyond them to 

 the mouths of the Mississippi, 1 had seen thousands of Surf 

 Ducks ; but the numbers that passed the shores of Labrador, 

 bound for the far north, exceeded all my previous concep- 

 tions. For more than a week after we had anchored in the 

 lovely harbour of Little Macatina, I had been anxiously 

 searching for the nest of this species, but in vain. At 

 length I found that a few pairs had remained in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and one morning, while in the company of Captain 

 Emery, searching for the nests of the Red-breasted Mergan- 

 ser, over a vast oozy and treacherous fresh-water marsh, I sud- 

 denly started a female Surf Duck from her treasure. We 

 were then about five miles distant from our harbour, from 

 which our party had come in two boats, and fully five and a 

 half miles from the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 

 marsh was about three miles in length. The nest was snugly 

 placed amid the tall leaves of a bunch of grass, and raised 

 fully four inches above its roots. It was entirely composed 

 of withered and rotten weeds, the former being circularly 

 arranged over the latter, producing a well rounded cavity, six 

 inches in diameter, by two and a half in depth. The borders 

 of this inner cup were lined with the down of the bird, in the 

 same manner as the Eider Duck's nest, and in it lay five 

 eggs, the smallest number I have ever found in any duck''s 

 nest. They were two inches and two and a half eighths in 

 length, by one inch and five eighths in their greatest breadth; 

 more equally rounded at both ends than usual ; the shell 

 perfectly smooth, and of a uniform pale yellowish, or cream 

 colour. I took them on board along with the female, which 

 was shot as she rose from the nest. We saw no male bird 

 near the spot ; but in the course of the same day met with 



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