EASTERN HARLEQUIN DUCK 



291 



Harlequins acquire their love 

 for rough water early, for the 

 young are brought up among 

 the rapids of northern rivers, 

 and he tells how on one occa- 

 sion, when he was attempting 

 to photograph a brood of 

 ducklings, they became 

 alarmed and were caught by 

 the current and carried over 

 a falls. Fearing they were lost 

 he looked over in time to see 

 them rising to the surface 

 and floating along, preening 

 themselves, none the worse 

 tor the accident. 



A full description of the 

 diving and swimming habits 

 of the species is given in the 

 "Life Story" of the Western 

 Harlequin Duck. 



The Harlequin Duck 

 subsists almost entirely on 

 animal matter. Less than 2 

 per cent of its food is of plant origin, and that consists entirely of un- 

 identifiable drift or ground-up debris. The analysis of the stomach con- 

 tents of 64 of these ducks, taken in January, February, March, June, July 

 August and September, gave the following approximate percentages: 

 Crustaceans, 57; molluscs (including coat-of-mail shells, 9), 25; insects, 

 10; sea urchins, 2.5; fishes, 2.5; miscellaneous animal food, 1.5; total 

 animal food, 98.5 per cent. Gravel averaged 19 per cent of the total 

 stomach content. Most of the specimens analyzed were of the Pacific 

 Harlequin race, but as those of the Atlantic variety examined were not 

 noticeably different, all were included in the same report. Chitous, or 

 coat-of-mail shells, which are rarely taken by other ducks, formed about 

 9 per cent of the food of the Harlequin. These shells are found securely 

 attached by suction to rocky coastal surfaces and even experienced col- 

 lectors find great difficulty in detaching them; how the Harlequin does 

 so is a matter of no small wonder. 



In the spring the Harlequins start moving northward in February 

 and by March and April are on their summer breeding grounds in north- 

 ern Labrador and Newfoundland. The autumn migration usually takes 

 place in November, and the winter is spent mainly off the outlying rocky 

 islands and ledges of the eastern Canadian Provinces; they seldom re- 

 main south of the coast of Maine. 



