iSgi.] Mackay, Hahi/s of the Sco/rrs. 28 I 



gregate to teed, in the shoal \\ aters adjacent to Cape Cod, Nan- 

 tucket, and Marthas Vineyard, these niollusks are particuhirly 

 abundant, and consequently we find more of the Scoters in those 

 localities than on any other part of the coast or perhaps than on 

 all the rest of the coast combined. The birds living north of 

 Chatham, C ipe Cod, are found in widely scattered groups. 

 Among the places frequented by the larger bodies further south 

 are Point Kill Pond Bar, three miles oft' Dennis ; the flats oft 

 Chatham, Mass, (twelve feet of water, and sea clams) ; Cape 

 Cod, Mass.; Nantucket Shoals; Horse Shoe Shoal ; Muskeget 

 Channel; Vineyard Sound oft' Gay Head ; and the whole north 

 shore of Nantucket Island, about two or three miles out from the 

 island. Most of these places licing inaccessible to ordinary 

 sportsmen, the birds can live undisturbed during the late autumn, 

 winter, and spring months ; undoubtedly returning year after 

 year to these same waters, which appear to have become their 

 winter home. 



Where there are large ponds adjacent to the coast, separated 

 from the ocean by a strip of beach, all three of the Scoters will 

 at times frequent them to feed, and will collect in considerable 

 numbers if the supply of food is abundant ; in which case they 

 are very unwilling to leave such ponds, and, although much 

 harassed by being shot at and driven out, continue to return 

 until many are killed. An instance of this kind occurred the 

 first of November, 1S90, when some four hundred Scoters col- 

 lected in the Hummuck Pond on Nantucket Island ; they were 

 composed entirely of the young of the Surf and White-winged 

 Scoters, only one American (a female) being obtained out of 

 about fifty birds shot in one day (Nov. 3) by a friend and my- 

 self. I shot three American Scoters on Nov. 3 in the same 

 pond. 



As earh' as the loth of August White-winged Scoters begin to 

 arrive on this coast from the North, a good many of which have 

 their breast feathers thin and worn oft\ The young White-wings 

 do not arrive much before the 8th to the 14th of October. A few 

 of the old American Scoters appear early in September, a large 

 movement usually taking place from the 17th to the 35th of Sep- 

 tember; a few of the young birds arrive about the eighth of Oc 

 tober. The old birds of the Surf Scoter appear about the middle 

 of September, with a very large mavement about the 30th, accor- 

 5 



