70 DUCK SHOOTING. 



and eggs in latitude 82 degrees 33 minutes north, 

 and subsequently many others in the same neighbor- 

 hood. These nests were on the beach, near the water. 

 In Greenland Dr. Walker, who found this species near 

 Godthaab, as well as in the mouth of Bellot's Straits, 

 saw nests built in the cliffs which formed the sides of 

 the strait. On the European side of the water the bird 

 has been found breeding in great numbers at Spitz- 

 bergen, where the ground was sometimes covered with 

 its nests. 



During its migrations the brant appears on the New 

 England coast in October or November, and is found 

 from there south along the Atlantic as far as South 

 Carolina. Its favorite wintering grounds seem to be 

 the coasts of Virginia and North and South Carolina, 

 where it remains in great flocks all winter, unless driven 

 further southward by extremely severe weather. It is 

 a gentle, unsuspicious bird, and is readily decoyed. On 

 the Massachusetts coast it is killed chiefly in spring on 

 the sand bars, to which it resorts for the purpose of 

 sanding. In its more southern haunts it is commonly 

 shot from a battery or a bush blind. 



Brant do not dive for their food, but feed in the same 

 way as do geese, ducks and other shoal water wildfowl, 

 by stretching the long neck down to the bottom and 

 pulling up the grass that grows there. It is thus evi- 

 dent that they can only feed at certain stages of the 

 tide. 



Brant are not uncommon in captivity, and are used 

 in New England as decoys on the sand bars. The 



