BIRD NOTES AFIELD 



We are less surprised to find that many scoters have been 

 lost in the gale, for such heavy-bodied ducks vv^ould be power- 

 less when even the albatross could not cope with the elements. 

 Yonder lies a fine fellow with his duck bill curiously puffed 

 out at the base, and his jet-black plumage relieved by a white 

 wing-patch. He is called the white-winged scoter, and a 

 merry life he has led with his companions, sporting in the surf, 

 swimming, diving or flapping away in his clumsy fashion until 

 overtaken by this winter storm. There are two other surf 

 ducks which are often killed and cast upon the beach — the 

 American black and the surf scoters. The male of the Ameri- 

 can scoter is black all over, while the surf scoter has white 

 markings on the forehead, back and sides of head. The white 

 markings of the males are repeated, although generally more 

 or less restricted upon the brown females. 



It is exciting work, this patrolling the beach after a storm, 

 with the tumult of the elements about us and the zest of new 

 discoveries to urge us on. At any moment we may happen 

 upon some rare form of bird life at our feet, some creature 

 which nature has ruthlessly discarded, but which science may 

 find of great value. Even the bleached bones of the victims 

 of other storms tell their story to him who is skilled to read it, 

 and a broken pelvis in the sand may be full of interest and 

 significance. 



Of all the discoveries I have made along the ocean beach 

 none have interested me more, I think, than that of the 

 rhinoceros auklet. It is one of those strange, low forms of sea 

 bird which recalls the life of some earlier geological epoch. 

 During the mating season a knob or horn-like protuber- 

 ance adorns the base of the upper mandible, but, like 



[32] 



