250 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



would be difficult to knock down more than two or three at one shot. 

 Their sense of smell is uncommonly acute, and their eyesight, if 

 we may judge from their activity at night, must be better than that 

 of most species. When wounded on the water they will immediately 

 take to the shore, if in the vicinity, and conceal themselves under the 

 first covert, so that one accustomed to this habit can have no difficulty 

 in finding them." 



Along the Atlantic seaboard the marine ducks, or 

 such as are found in that region in abundance and 

 but sparingly inland, are known as migratory birds 

 now, whatever in the distant long ago might have been 

 their breeding habits. Prominent among these are 

 the " Red-head" and " Canvas-back," so highly prized 

 as food ; the two " Broad-bills," the " Whistler," " But- 

 ter-ball," and Ruddy Duck. As sea-coast "fowl," 

 spending their time in feeding where they can and 

 eluding the gunners if they can, these birds do not 

 present any marked habits that are of special interest. 

 In the northwest some of these ducks breed within 

 the limits of the United States, but now probably 

 never do so south of the northern boundary of 

 Maine, or in its northernmost counties. 



The Eider-ducks, so well known for the down 

 they provide, or rather are forced to yield up to man, 

 are marine species, and yet occasionally have been 

 met with as far inland as the Great Lakes. The 

 Scoters, or " Coots," are three in number, that are 

 found at sea along our sea-coast in autumn and 

 winter. They are migratory, and in the west are 

 found also on our large rivers and the lakes. They 

 breed in the north. Of the American Scoter, as it 

 is called, Wilson writes as follows, and the quotation 

 will as well apply to the others as seen on our coast : 



