330 



BAY, SEA OR DIVING DUCKS 



Long Island and Vineyard Sounds. Here these scoters feed on the 

 mussel beds of the submerged ledges and sunken rocks, and may be seen 

 sleeping and resting in huge rafts far offshore. On the Pacific coast 

 they winter from the Aleutian Islands to the coast of Lower California. 

 It is said that on their migrations these birds do not feed, but that on 

 alighting on some large body of water to rest they immediately tuck 

 their bills in the feathers of the back and fall fast asleep. 



On the New England coast scoters are known generally as "coots" 

 and are much sought by the gunners of the East. Bent (1925) gives 

 the following delightful ac- 

 count of this sport as it was 

 practised some decades ago, 

 before the adoption of some 

 of the present-day hunting 

 regulations: "The time-hon- 

 ored sport of coot shooting 

 has for generations been one 

 of the most popular and im- 

 portant forms of wildfowl 

 hunting on the New England 

 coast. Next to the Black 

 Duck, which undoubtedly 

 stands first in the estimation 

 of our sportsmen, there are 

 probably more scoters killed 

 on our coasts than any other 

 of the Anatidae. Aside from 

 the fact that the scoters are 

 not of much value for the 

 table, coot shooting has much 

 to recommend it; it is a 

 rough and rugged sport, test- 

 ing the strength, endurance, 

 and skill of an experienced 

 boatman; the birds are strong fliers and hard to kill, requiring the best of 

 marksmanship, under serious difficulties, and hard-shooting guns; during 

 good flights game is almost always within sight, giving the sportsman 

 much pleasant anticipation; and chances are frequently offered to show 

 his skill at difficult and long shots. I was born and bred to be a coot 

 shooter, inheriting the instinct from three generations ahead of me, and 

 I only wish that I could impart to my readers a small fraction of the 

 pleasure we have enjoyed in following this fascinating sport. 



"Rudely awakened at an unseemly hour, soon after midnight it 

 seems, the party of gunners are given an early breakfast before start- 

 ing out. It is dark as midnight as we grope our way down to the beach, 

 heavily laden with paraphernalia, launch our boats in a sheltered cove 

 among the rocks, and row out onto the ocean. The crisp October air 



