° 1914 J General Notes. 245 



going to a feeding ground the Scaups followed the Old-squaw only when 

 they themselves were thoroughly hungry, judging by their actions, and 

 would probably have gone even if he had not. Even when the Old-squaw 

 did precede, the Scaups were the first to dive. It is not improbable that 

 the Old-squaw is a faster swimmer than the Scaups, and this may account 

 for his preceding them at times. It has been noted that when the birds 

 were thoroughly alarmed, the Old-squaw first tried to escape by swimming, 

 while the Scaups took wing at once. More often the Old-squaw followed 

 the Scaups a little way and then turned about, due no doubt to a grega- 

 rious instinct which was quickly overcome by an impulse to sleep, or the 

 fact that he was satiated with food. Occasionally he completely ignored 

 them, and this was at a time when satiety or the sleep impulse or both 

 were strongest. Almost invariably the Old-squaw would not allow the 

 Scaups to come too near, and remained about twice as far from them as 

 they were from each other, at least while inactive, and all were scattered 

 somewhat while feeding. Generally the Old-squaw moved away when a 

 Scaup approached him too closely; in one instance he was seen to wake 

 suddenly and rush at the nearest Scaup with open bill, a phenomenon 

 I have seen among the ducks in the big flying cage at Lincoln Park, 

 Chicago. 



How strong the gregarious instinct is in ducks is shown in the behavior 

 of the solitary individuals of different species which alighted on the lagoon 

 after the Scaups had left, both river ducks and sea ducks. There is little 

 likelihood of sexual attraction between the members of different subfamilies, 

 indeed, a Black Duck generally kept to itself at the western end of the 

 lagoon, being at one period of observation close to a Mallard, a member 

 of its own subfamily, just on the other side of the bridge, but separated 

 by a flood-gate. 



The gregarious instinct would seem to be further confirmed in the case 

 of the Old-squaw twice following a gull for a short distance during the 

 absence of the Scaups, as if mistaking it for a duck. Herrick ^ cites a case 

 of a shrike attempting to impale prey in a maple, under the pressure of a 

 strong impulse not being able to distinguish the maple from a thorn bush. 

 This author also states that all intelligence gives way under the presence 

 of stronger instincts. The case of the Old-squaw and the gull, it seems to 

 me, is somewhat analagous to that of the shrike. — Edwin D. Hull, 

 Chicago, III. 



American Egret (Herodias egretta) in Rhode Island. — Seeing Mr. 

 Noble's record of the American Egret on Martha's Vineyard reminds me 

 to record the following observation. In August, either on the 15th or 16th, 

 1913, while crossing the road that skirts the salt marsh just after crossing 

 Stone Bridge, Tiverton, on to the Island of Rhode Island, I noticed from 



1 Herrick, P. H. Instinct and Intelligence in Birds. III. Pop. Sci. Mo. 

 77:82-97, 1910. 



