162 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



stop until they reach the Hudson River or the Great Lakes. 

 Mackay says that this flight rarely begins before the second 

 week in May; that the birds start at 3 o'clock p.m. or later 

 and pass westward along the shore or over the sounds, often 

 as far as Noank, Conn., before they begin to cross the country. 



The White-winged Coot is the only Scoter that is usually 

 abundant on the lakes of the ulterior in spring. There it 

 seeks mainly fresh-water mussels. It gathers in large flocks 

 over the beds of these mollusks in the Great Lakes, both in 

 fall and spring, and even in winter when the lakes are open.^ 

 It breeds about ponds and lakes in the interior of the country 

 from the northern United States northward. Though now 

 rarely seen in the inland ponds and lakes of Massachusetts it 

 was not very rare in certain ponds, lakes and rivers as late as 

 the first part of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, 

 and may still occur occasionally. Nuttall (1834) mentions 

 this bird as " seen in Fresh Pond, Cambridge." Brewster 

 says he can remember (1867 to 1872) when birds of this 

 species used to alight there every autumn at daybreak, in 

 both clear and stormy weather. ^ Mr. John H. Hardy, Jr., 

 says that they still visit Spy and Mystic ponds. A flight is 

 recorded in the autumn of 1895 at Cheshire Reservoir in 

 Berkshire County.^ Apparently this abundant bird has de- 

 creased somewhat in numbers even on our coasts within thirty 

 years. Only twelve Massachusetts observers report an in- 

 crease in the numbers of this species and fifty-two report a 

 decrease. As their reports cover an average period of about 

 twenty-seven years, they deserve some consideration. 



The stomachs of nine White-winged Scoters from Massa- 

 chusetts waters, examined by Mr. W. L. McAtee, of the 

 Biological Survey, contained of mussels, about forty-four per 

 cent.; quahogs, twenty-two per cent.; periwmkles, nineteen 

 per cent.; hermit crabs, nine per cent.; the remainder was 

 caddis larvae and algae and other vegetable matter. Three 

 birds from Nantucket had eaten only the common mussel 

 (Mytilus edulis) . 



1 Eaton, E. H.: Birds of New York, 1910, p. 223. 



2 Brewster, William: Birds of the Cambridge Region, 1906, p. 123. 

 ' Howe and Allen: Birds of Massachusetts, 1901, p. 56. 



