286 Mw.KAY, H<i/>//s of ///f Sro/irs. [July 



heard of tlieir starting before the 7th of May, which is unusually 

 early; the customary time being from the i 3th to the 15th, and 

 the latest the 35th. They usually fly at a considerable altitude, 

 say from two hundred to three hundred yards, fully two thirds of 

 them being too high to shoot. They prefer to start during calm 

 warm weather, with light southerly, southeasterly, or easterly 

 winds ; though they will occasionally fly when the wind is strong. 

 They never fly in the forenoon, but when once they have deter- 

 mined to migrate, they leave in large flocks, some of which 

 number from five to six hundred birds, while as many as ten 

 thousand have been estimated as passing in a single day. I have 

 "never heard of, or seen any similar flight to the eastward ix^teY 

 this western flight has taken place. A few of the other two 

 Scoters are seen with the White-wings during this western move- 

 ment. No perceptible diflerence is noted in their numbers from 

 year to year, and I have never heard of a year when such a flight 

 as above described did not take place. 



The cause of this late and unusual movement is undoubtedly 

 the breaking up of the large bodies of White-winged Scoters which 

 have been living all winter between Cape Cod and Muskeget and 

 Marthas Vineyard Islands; and I feel moderately certain that 

 these birds return year after year to their old haunts, it having 

 become after so long an occupation as much their winter home 

 as the one at the North has their summer home. They conse- 

 quently prolong their stay until the last moment. As before 

 stated, they are apparently all old birds, exceedingly large and 

 heavy; they are so densely feathered, powerful, and tenacious of 

 life, that at the long distances one has to shoot at them, the shot 

 will not penetrate unless they are hit in the head or neck. To 

 recover a wing-broken one, if otherwise uninjured, is most diffi- 

 cult, in which respect they stand on a parity with the Loons and 

 Eiders. 



Towards the latter part of May there is a movement of Surf 

 and American Scoters to the eastward, the flight being up Buz- 

 zards Bay and crossing high up over the land to Cape Cod Bay. 

 There is also a movement south, during the latter part of October, 

 over Barnstable County near Centerville, Mass., from Cape Cod 

 Bay to Vineyard Sound. 



I am informed on very gooti authority that when the zvestern 

 migration of the White-winged Scoter is taking place in May, 



