41 



the bird. He also says that he has known unwounded ducks 

 and even a Canada Goose to become entangled in vegetation 

 under water and drown there. Mr. Roy Latham says that 

 wounded Black Ducks have been seen to dive and hold them- 

 selves down by grass stems until nearly dead. Others have 

 reported to him that ducks have remained thus under water 

 until death ensued. But he has not seen this. Mr. William 

 A. Jeffries of Boston writes me that he knew of one case where 

 a wounded Blue-winged Teal went to the bottom and stayed 

 there, apparently it had taken hold. Both he and his guide 

 observed the bird, head downward and body vertical, in short 

 weeds or grass, and decided that it had caught hold with its 

 bill as there was nothing to entangle it. The water was clear 

 and about 2 feet deep. Mr. W. E. Snyder, Beaver Dam, Wis- 

 consin, reports two cases where wounded ducks clung by the 

 bill to some object on the bottom to escape capture, but not 

 until death. A third bird was so badly wounded that when it 

 became entangled in weeds under water it could not free itself. 

 Mr. Frank W. Benson, Salem, Massachusetts, reports that he 

 was gunning with George Patterson who shot a Black Duck, 

 which disappeared in about a foot of water. After a long time 

 the bird was found dead in some short eelgrass. It had grass 

 in its mouth. Mr. G. Dallas Hanna says that at the Pribilof 

 Islands, Alaska, he has seen both Harlequin ducks and Old- 

 squaws dive when wounded, and never reappear. In only one 

 case was he able to find the bird. This was a Harlequin which 

 was found dead clinging with its bill to kelp near the bottom in 

 water about 8 feet deep. Mr. John L. Cole, Nevada, Iowa, 

 avers that he has known of several cases where ducks dived 

 when wounded, clung until death, and released their hold 

 shortly afterward. Dr. Malcolm F. Rogers, Milwaukee, Wis- 

 consin, reports two cases in Oconomowoc Lake, Wisconsin: a 

 Golden-eye in 1918 and a Scaup in 1920. These birds were 

 wounded, dived and did not come up. They were found in 

 about 5 feet of water, where they were seen clinging by the bill 

 to weeds on the bottom. When hit with a paddle they floated 

 to the surface, one dead and the other dying. Mr. R. Bruce 

 Horsfall, Portland, Oregon, says that he has known a Mallard 

 to cling to the bottom until death. This was in the Mississippi 



