238 WATER FOWL. 



it rushes along. It is very erratic in its ways, and ex- 

 ceedingly quick in its movements, whether on the water 

 or in the air. It walks fairly well, and takes wing 

 from the land at once, but has considerable difficulty in 

 rising from the water, and is obliged to run along the 

 surface, beating it with both feet and wings, before it can 

 get away. It is a most expert diver and is able to stay 

 long, and go far under water. When swimming it has the 

 habit of elevating its short, stiff, spiny-looking little tail 

 straight up in the air, sometimes inclining it forward 

 toward the head, and as the latter is very large as is also 

 the bill, and is held well back, there seems hardly enough 

 body between them to sustain all this superstructure, 

 especially as the bird swims so deeply that a large por- 

 tion is hidden beneath the surface. In this position the 

 male, for he is the one that exhibits himself usually in 

 this way, moves up and down among the others as if 

 challenging their admiration. It is a very gentle 

 species, and plunges into the decoys with a slide and a 

 splash like the Buffle Head or Hooded Merganser, or 

 other of the small rapid-flying Duck. 



When in flight this species makes a whirring 

 sound caused by the rapid movements of its concave 

 wings, as it buzzes along, the members of a flock 

 twisting and twirling about, but going usually in 

 a straight line, and they seem more like a swarm 

 of bees than a bunch of Ducks. Their flight is so 

 swift, and the body is comparatively so small, that 

 they are by no means an easy bird to shoot, and 

 much allowance must be made for the rapidity with 

 which they hurl themselves through the air. Formerly 

 but little attention was paid to this Duck by sportsmen; 

 it was so small that it was allowed to go by unheeded; 

 but of late years, on account of the growing scarcity of 



