AMERICAN SCOTER 



341 



The nests of this scoter are so well concealed and are built in locali- 

 ties so inaccessible that they are seldom found. It is said to lay from 6 

 to 10 eggs which are of a light buff or pinkish buff colour, the average 

 size being 2.44 by 1.64 inches. Regarding the care of the young by the 

 mother, Audubon (1840) says that he "found a female with seven young 

 ones, of which she took such effectual care that none of them fell into 

 our hands. On several occasions, when they were fatigued by diving, 

 she received them all on her back, and swimming deeply, though very 

 fast, took them to the shore, where the little things lay close among the 

 tall grass and low, tangled bushes. In this species, as in others, the 

 male forsakes the female as soon as incubation commences." 



Nine-tenths of the food of this duck is from the animal kingdom, 

 and, as in the case of the two other scoters, consists principally of mol- 

 luscs. The stomachs of 124 of these birds, collected in every month of 

 the year except April and August, and from 8 States, Alaska, and 4 

 Canadian Provinces, upon analysis gave the following approximate per- 

 centages of diet: Molluscs (including the blue mussel, 27; short razor 

 clams, 7; oysters, 6; rock clams, 5), 65; crustaceans, 17; insects, 3; fishes, 

 2; miscellaneous animal food, 3; total animal food, 90 per cent. Pond- 

 weeds, 5; muskgrass, 2; miscellaneous plant food, 3; total vegetable 

 food, 10 per cent. When these scoters had been feeding over the planted 

 commercial shellfish beds, those prized molluscs, oysters and scallops, 

 were found to comprise as high as 44 per cent of the bill of fare. 



In the spring, May is the 

 month of greatest movement 

 north, though many birds 

 start the migration in April. 

 In the autumn the migration 

 of the American Scoter is 

 somewhat earlier than that of 

 the two other species. The 

 heaviest flight on the New 

 England coast is during the 

 latter part of September, and 

 consists almost entirely of 

 adult birds; the juveniles, 

 which are known as "grey 

 coots," arrive during October, 

 together with the other scot- 

 ers. The favourite winter re- 

 sort of these birds, on the At- 

 lantic coast, is in the vicinity 

 of Nantucket and Martha's 

 Vineyard. Here they gather 

 in enormous flocks amid the 

 small islands and reefs, where 

 they feed on the bounteous 



