SEA DUCKS 105 



When going from one feeding ground to another they fly 

 swiftly some fifteen feet above the water, and if a flock is shot 

 into often all will pitch headlong into the water, generally 

 arising again immediately. When feeding they string out in 

 a line, diving successively, one after another until all are down, 

 and returning to the surface with small mussels or fish. They 

 keep up a more or less constant calling to one another, the 

 call being a prolonged succession of notes hard to put on paper. 



Genus HISTRIONICUS Lesson. 



155. Histrionkus histrionicus (Linn.). Harlequin Duck; 

 Lord and Lady; Sea Mouse. 



Plumage of adult male in winter : following parts white, lores, stripe at 

 each side of crown, stripe each side down rear of neck, spot over ears, collar 

 around neck, bar each side on breast, middle of scapulars, most of tertials, 

 spot at tip of greater wing coverts, spot each side near base of tail ; sides, 

 flanks and stripe each side of crown rufous ; speculum metallic violet ; other- 

 wise bluish plumbeous. Plumage of adult male in summer : speculum with- 

 out gloss, brownish gray ; below grayish white, grayish brown spotted ; other- 

 wise much as in winter but generally duller colored. Adult female : white 

 spot on ears and front of head whitish ; above brownish fuscous, growing 

 lighter on throat, breast and sides ; belly grayish brown. Immature plumage : 

 chest, flanks and under tail coverts brownish ; above uniform brownish ; other- 

 wise much as in adult female. Wing 7.50 to 8.25 ; culmen 1.07 ; tarsus 1.52. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern North America, breeding from Newfoundland. Mon- 

 tana and Latitude 38° in the Sierras northward to Arctic regions ; in winter 

 southward to the Middle States, California, and Eastern Asia. 



County Records. — Cumberland; rare winter visitant, (Brown). Hancock; 

 formerly common among the outer islands, but at present only a few pair 

 can be found in the most isolated outer portions of Penobscot Bay, (Knight). 

 Knox; winter, (Rackliff). Sagadahoc; rare in winter, formerly plenty, 

 (Spinney). Waldo ; only one or two instances in the bay in the last twenty 

 years, (Knight). Washington ; among the islands in fall and winter, 

 (Boardman). 



The days of this handsome little Duck are fast passing and 

 it is likely soon to be accorded a shelf along with certain other 

 species formerly occurring along our coast. They were form- 

 erly common along the coast from November until March and 

 April, but now occur only in the extreme winter months in 



