214 



NEW YORK STATI-: MUSEUM 



Distribution. The Old squaw, Old wife, Long-tailed duck, Coween, or 

 South-southerly, is a common winter duck on the waters of Long Island, on 

 the Great Lakes, and the Hudson and St Lawrence rivers, wherever the water 

 is open. It is sometimes positively abundant on these waters, especially in 

 April and November, at which season it is also quite generally distributed on 

 the smaller lakes and rivers, sharing with the Buffle-head and Lesser scaup 

 the reputation of being the most widely distributed of the bay ducks on the 

 small inland waters. It leaves us in May for its arctic breeding grounds and 

 returns again to our coasts late in October or the first of November. 



The Old squaw is one of the swiftest flyers and best divers among our 

 ducks. It is also the most noisy and at times makes the lakes resound with 

 its loud sonorotis cries which have given it the name of "Hah-ha-way" 

 among the Crees, according to Dr Richardson. It is likewise called South- 

 southerly on the Chesapeake and other southern waters, and Cow-he-een, 

 or Coween, bv the gunners of western New York and other localities for the 

 same reason. This duck seems to possess an inordinate amount of blood 

 and its vitalitv is so great that it can scarcely be killed by the usual methods. 

 Its flesh is dark and rank, caused by an uninterrupted diet of shellfish and 

 other aquatic animals. While feeding in the Great Lakes this bird is fre- 

 quently taken in the gill nets at a depth of 15 fathoms and sometimes at 

 27 fathoms (162 feet). At Dunkirk, N. Y., between five and seven thousand 

 have been taken at one haul [see Bacon, Ornithology and Oology, 17: 45]. 

 It is a noticeable fact that the old squaws are far less abundant than they 

 were 30 years ago, and as their breeding grounds are in the arctic regions it is 

 probable that this wholesale destruction on the lakes is the chief cause of 

 their decrease. 



Histrionicus histrionicus (Linnaeus) 

 Harlequin Duck 



Plate 19 



Anashistrionica Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1758. 1:127 

 Fuligula histrionicus DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 331, fig. 259, 260 

 Histrionicus histrionicus A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 155 



histrion'icHS, pertaining to a player, tricked out in colors like a clown 



Description. ]\Iale in winter: Plumage mostly leaden bluish turning 

 to blackish about the edges of the peculiar wdiite markings which are dis- 



