324 ANATID^E. 



on board the Ripley, I found the waters of the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence alive with Ducks of different species. The 

 nearer we approached the coast, the more numerous did 

 they become ; and of the many kinds that presented them- 

 selves to our anxious gaze, the Surf Duck was certainly not 

 the least numerous. It is true that in the noble bays of our 

 own coast, in the Sound, between New York and the 

 Hook, on the broader waters of the Chesapeake, and 

 beyond them to the mouths of the Mississippi, I had seen 

 thousands of Surf Ducks ; but the numbers that passed the 

 shores of Labrador, bound for the far north, exceeded all 

 my previous conceptions. For more than a week after we 

 had anchored in the lovely harbour of Little Macatina, I 

 had been anxiously searching for the nest of this species, 

 but in vain. At length I found that a few pairs had 

 remained in the neighbourhood, and one morning, while 

 in the company of Captain Emery, searching for the nests 

 of the Red-breasted Merganser, over a vast oozy and 

 treacherous fresh-water marsh, I suddenly started a female 

 Surf Duck from her treasure. We were then about five 

 miles distant from our harbour, from which our party had 

 come in two boats, and fully five and a half miles from 

 the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The marsh was 

 about three miles in length. The nest was snugly placed 

 amid the tall leaves of a bunch of grass, and raised fully 

 four inches above its roots. It was entirely composed of 

 withered and rotten weeds, the former being circularly 

 arranged over the latter, producing a well rounded cavity, 

 six inches in diameter, by two and a half in depth. The 

 borders of this inner cup were lined with the down of the 

 bird, in the same manner as the Eider Duck's nest, and in 

 it lay five eggs, the smallest number I have ever found in 

 any Duck^s nest. They were two inches and two and a 



