412 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



is common in tlie Gulf of St. Lawrence, and breeds on its 

 northern shore, a short distance inland." He says that the 

 bird derives its name from its Magpie-like plumage; that its 

 flesh is dry and fishy, and that as an addition to the bag it is 

 not worth shooting. All these statements would apply to the 

 Labrador Duck.^ As King had spent three years shooting 

 and fishing about the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in Canada 

 previous to 1866, when his book was published, and as he 

 evidently was familiar with the water-fowl, his statement 

 perhaps is entitled to as much credence as was that of the set- 

 tlers who showed Audubon the supposed nests of this Duck. 



Dr. Coues, in his notes on the Ornithology of Labrador, 

 made in 1860, says: "I was informed that, though it was 

 rarely seen in summer, it is not an uncommon bird in Labra- 

 dor during the fall." ' This is the only intimation that 1 have 

 been able to find that this bird ever bred to the northward 

 of Labrador; but it is too indefinite to have much weight. 



Audubon regarded the Labrador Duck as a very hardy 

 species, for it remained oflp the coasts of Maine and Massa- 

 chusetts during the winter and was unknown south of Chesa- 

 peake Bay. It must have migrated in some numbers to the 

 coast of Long Island and New York as late as the first half 

 of the nineteenth century, for DeKay (1844) says that it was 

 well known to the gunners on that coast, but that on the 

 coast of New Jersey it was "not very abundant."^ But 

 Giraud, writing about the same time of Long Island, says: 

 "With us it is rather rare."^ 



Probably the Labrador Duck in its migrations was once 

 common along the New England coast. Morton, writing of 

 the birds noted by him in New England between 16'2'2 and 

 1630, speaks of " pide Ducks, gray Ducks and black Ducks in 

 greate abundance."^ It seems probable that some of the 

 " pide Ducks " were of this species, for this is the one Duck 

 that best merits the name of pied Duck, because of its being 



» King, W. Ross: The Sportsman and Naturalist in Canada, 1866, p. 235. 



2 Coues, Elliott: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1861, p. 239. 



3 DeKay, James E.: Nat. Hist, of New York, Part I, Zoology, Ornithology, 1844, p. 326. 



4 Giraud, J. P., Jr.: Birds of Long Island, 1844, p. 327. 



5 Morton, Thomas: New English Canaan, Pub. Prince Soc, 1883, p. 190. 



