THE OLD SQUAW 359 



They seem to favor the sandy shores, leaving 

 to their neighbors, the "coots," almost undis- 

 turbed possession of those rocky, weed- and 

 kelp-grown grounds which they love the best. 

 The writer knows one stretch of shore divided 

 into two parts by a high and narrow promon- 

 tory; on the one hand shifting sandbars at the 

 mouth of a swift-running river and mile after 

 mile of shallows over a sandy bottom. Here 

 are the Squaws, making a continual music most 

 pleasant to the gunner's ear. They are a very 

 restless lot, dashing about from place to place, 

 the swiftest of the seafowl. On the other side 

 of the headland are waters deep and bold, crash- 

 ing and tumbling in on a rugged, rocky shore, 

 with the full sweep of the open ocean. Here 

 dwell the ' ' coots, ' ' winging their heavy flight in 

 sluggish contrast to the lightning rush of the 

 ' ' Squaw. ' ' Scarce a ' ' Long-tail ' ' puts his nose 

 around the point which marks the frontier be- 

 tween the two communities, or if he does so, 

 dashes back with the half -scared air of an in- 

 truder. 



The Oldsquaw is mainly maritime, though oc- 

 casional vagrants are seen on the Great Inland 

 Seas. Their only visits to New England shores 



