504 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



gotten ; 14th, got two, one 17^ inches long and weighing 2 pounds, 

 the other 154 inches long and weighing 24^ ounces; 15th, an im- 

 mature bird found dead; one, probably a cripple, was seen from 

 time to time all summer about the lake. 



1907. — October 21, several flocks seen ; 25th, common, hunters 

 got two; November 2, one found dead on east shore. 



1909. — April 23, this and other ducks said to be quite plentiful. 



1913. — Up to the time of our leaving the lake (October 20 and 

 November 9), few, if any. Little Bluebills had returned; none was 

 actually observed. 



The records given above show that the Little Bluebill is one of 

 the first ducks to appear in spring. It returns with the first open 

 water and by the time the ice is off the lake it is usually present in 

 great numbers. Our notes record it as early as March 9, and as 

 abundant in April. It remains well into June, and flocks have been 

 noted as late as June 25. Occasionally a few remain throughout 

 the summer, but in all probability most, if not all, of these are 

 cripples which were unable to resume the northern flight with 

 their fellows. Some of these may mate and breed in the marshes 

 at Norris Inlet or about Lost Lake. In August, 1903, an old bird 

 and 6 young, still unable to fly, were seen at the south end of the 

 lake. In the fall of 1906 an old nest with fragments of shells 

 about it, evidently duck eggs and believed to be this species, was 

 found in Overmeyer's woods near the lake. 



In the fall they begin to return about the first of October; in 

 1906 a few were seen September 12. By the middle or twentieth 

 of October they are usually abundant, but the maximum is not 

 reached until early in November, Fully a thousand were present 

 October 27, 1904. They remain until scarcity of food or freezing 

 up of the lake compels them to seek other feeding grounds. At 

 times they are so abundant as to appear like a solid mass covering 

 considerable areas of the lake. 



When unmolested and in calm weather, they usually stay not 

 far from shore and in rather shallow water where they feed upon 

 the wild celery. They mix quite freely with the coots with which 

 they appear to be on the best of terms. They delight, perhaps 

 more than any other duck, to gather in great flocks, hence the name 

 Flocking-fowl which Audubon says was in his day applied to them 

 in the lower Mississippi valley. During fair days in the fall they 

 may be seen in great numbers near shore at Lake Maxinkuckee, 

 diving and feeding in shallow water, 3 to 15 feet deep, all the time 

 keeping up rather low, subdued conversations quite unlike the 

 quacking of the mallard ; it is more conversational, like that of the 



