DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. 25 1 



" This duck is but little known along our sea-coast, being more 

 usually met with in the northern than southern districts, and only 

 during the winter. Its food is shell-fish, for which it is almost per- 

 petually diving. That small bivalve so often mentioned, small mus- 

 cles, spout-fish, called on the coast razor-handles, young clams, etc., 

 furnish it with abundant fare, and wherever these are plenty the 

 Scoter is an occasional visitor. They swim, seemingly at ease, amidst 

 the very roughest of the surf, but fly heavily along the surface and to 

 no great distance. They rarely penetrate far up our rivers, but seem 

 to prefer the neighborhood of the ocean, differing in this respect from 

 the Cormorant, which often makes extensive visits to the interior.'' 



