154 The IVater-fowl Family 



upper tail-coverts, blackish ; tail, dark brown in centre, lighter 

 at the edges; central feathers not elongated; upper part of 

 breast and sides, light brown ; rest of under parts, pure white ; 

 bill, dusky ; legs and feet, bluish gray ; webs, dusky ; iris, hazel. 



Young — Plumage similar to female. In the young male the char- 

 acteristic plumage of adult is more or less noticeable. 



Downy young — Head and upper parts, brown, grayish markings 

 near the eye ; a dusky stripe from the bill to back of head ; 

 under parts, white, with a dark brown band across the breast. 



Eggs — Six to nine in number; pale grayish green in color, and 

 measure 2 inches by 1.40. 



Habitat — The northern hemisphere. In North America breeds 

 from southern Labrador, Hudson Bay, the upper Mackenzie, 

 the interior of Alaska, and possibly British Columbia, north to 

 northern Greenland, Grinnell Land, the Arctic coasts and 

 islands, the Bering Sea coast of Alaska, and the Aleutians and 

 islands in Bering Sea, and accidentally in New York (.-'). Win- 

 ters in southern Greenland, and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 south regularly to North Carolina and the Great Lakes, and 

 rarely to Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Colorado ; about the 

 Bering Sea islands and the Aleutians, south regularly to Wash- 

 ington, and rarely to San Diego Bay, California. 



The old-squaw brings up recollections of win- 

 ter on the New England coast. Arriving in 

 November, and often ushered in by a storm, 

 these birds frequent the bays and sounds, becom- 

 ing more and more abundant with increasing ice 

 and freezing nights, gathering in vast rafts in our 

 harbors if not too much molested. They are of 

 a social disposition, and their musical note is 

 always in evidence — the more the merrier. The 

 /i07ik, hoiik a link, honk a link, tells of snow at 

 Christmas. All winter long they stay, with 

 milder weather leaving their nooks inshore and 



