tSpi.] Mackay on the Ohhqua-v. ^^C^ 



^vere incapacitated through hick of food and consequent loss of 

 strength from doing so. As a result it was a common occurrence 

 to find them lying around dead or dying on the shore. Those 

 that were alive were so weak they could not fly, and on exam- 

 ination proved to be nothing literally but skin and bone, others 

 apparently had starved to death. Those found were always fe- 

 males or young males wliich, like the females and young of the 

 Black Duck {Anas obscttra) and the American Goldcneye 

 i^Glaiicioneita cla7tgula amertcana)^ axe unable to endure as 

 much hardship as the adult males, they generally being the first 

 to succumb, while the adult males, when shot under similar con- 

 ditions were found on examination to be in fairly good condition 

 and not so emaciated. During the above-mentioned winter on a 

 certain occasion the tide caused a ci^ack in the ice adjacent to the 

 jetty on the north shore of tlie island of Nantucket, leaving a 

 small surface of open water which was soon crowded with half 

 stai'ved Oldsquaws in quest of anything which might sustain life. 

 This collection of Ducks was noticed by two men who planned 

 to capture them in a rather novel way. Having walked out on 

 the ice to the sjDot, each being provided with a sheet and a fish- 

 ing pole, they drove out the Ducks; and wrapping themselves in 

 their sheets they lay down on the ice beside the crack. As soon 

 as the Ducks had returned in sufficient numbers, which they did 

 almost immediately, they jumped up and with their fishing 

 poles beat down as many as came within reach, repeating the 

 operation a number of times till they had secured about sixty in 

 a little over an hour, when they desisted, repeating the oper- 

 ation on the following day with a like result. They found, how- 

 ever, on examination that the Ducks were valueless except for 

 their feathers owing to their emaciated condition. It would also 

 .appear that even these Ducks, boreal as they are in their habits, 

 cannot endure the porridge ice which forms at times in these 

 waters, for they are frequently found under similar conditions on 

 the shores in other winters than the one above described. They 

 apparently must have considerable open water in order to exist. 

 It was during the early part of the severe winter of 1888 that many 

 Oldsquaws sought the land. Alighting on the uplands adjacent to 

 the north shore of the island, they came in flocks of a hundred 

 or less, in order that they might obtain and eat the dried fine 

 top grass {Anthoxanthum odoratum) which grows wild there ; 



