:S8S.] DuTCHER 0)1 Long Island Birds. I ^ c 



H. Helme visited Capt. J. G. Scott, keeper of the liglithoiise at Montauk 

 Point, and while there had the good fortune to procure an adult female of 

 this species. His account of the capture is as follows: "It was alone when 

 shot and was feeding in the shallow water among the rocks in a sheltered 

 cove. It was at first mistaken for a Dusky Duck, whose mate had been 

 shot at this spot the preceding day. It was shot at and twice driven from 

 its feeding ground only to return the third time to offer itself, apparently, 

 a voluntary contribution to the cause. It had previously been wounded, 

 the right tibia having been broken near the tibio-tarsal articulation. As 

 the bones had not united the bird evidently found it difHcult to feed in the 

 deeper water. This will, I think, account for its attachment to the spot 

 where it was shot. Capt. Scott reports seeing, wh'le oft' the Point duck- 

 ing, several Ducks which he calls -Isle of Shoal Ducks.' They may be 

 female Eiders or Scoters." January 22, 1S87, Capt. Scott sent to me one 

 of the Isle of Shoal Ducks, which proved to be a female King Eider. He 

 reported them, "living off the Point since early in November (nth), when 

 I saw a flock of four; the next day I saw ten at one time. They appear 

 less shy than the other wild fowl, and will permit a nearer approach in a 

 boat. In this locality it is seen occasionally in the winter months, on the 

 ocean, from one-quarter to one-half mile from shore. It is not a common 

 Duck, and I believe it is only a few years since they ha\e been seen off 

 Montauk Point, but this winter they have been more than usually com- 

 mon. There is a shoal, with a depth of water from fifteen to twenty' feet, 

 about one-quarter of a mile off" the Point, where I go to shoot Ducks, but 

 can only do so when the surf will permit. Every time I have visited this 

 spot this winter, I have seen from four to twentj' King Eiders." March 

 19, 1SS7, Capt. Scott sent to me a young male which he shot from a flock 

 of twenty. April 8, he wrote, "I was out to-day and saw about thirty 

 King Eiders, as many as I have seen any day this winter. I think about one- 

 third of the birds were males." Late in the winter I wrote to Capt. Frank 

 Stratton, keeper of the Ditch Plain Life Saving Station, asking whether 

 this species was a regular winter visitant near Montauk, antl he replied as 

 follows : "The KingEider Ducks are quite rare here ; I think 1 have known 

 only about ten killed in as many years. I shot three, the first of Novem- 

 ber, I think in 1880. We see a few every winter, between November i 

 and May i, usually singly or in pairs, hardly ever in flocks. They ked 

 on mussels or small shell-fish which they pick up from the bottom of the 

 ocean. They never come into the ponds or baj's ; at least I have never 

 seen one except on the ocean. They are very fair eating, nearly as good 

 as a Black Duck." April 21, 1SS7, Capt. Stratton sent to me a male and 

 female which had been shot oft' his station by one of the Life Saving Crew. 

 "They were about one-quarter of a mile oft' shore, where the water was 

 from three to four fathoms deep." They were both gorged with the young 

 of the common edible mussel {Myfilns eduli's l^inn.), which Capt. Strat- 

 ton says grow in large quantities in the ocean around Montauk, wherever 

 there is a rocky bottom. The two specimens above referred to were the 

 last ones seen. 



