LONG -TAILED DUCK. 79 



mild or severe. In brief, 'They arrive with the first frown 

 of winter, and depart with the earliest blink of summer sun.' 

 f lhey migrate by night in large Hocks. 



These Ducks shun the society of other species, and keep 

 their own company alone; so they also soon learn to avoid 

 the approach of man, and make oft' while the gunner is 

 yet distant: this, at least after they have learned the wisdom 

 of doing so, for otherwise they are far from shy. In the 

 spring they become 'noisy and restless in their movements. 

 There appear to be contentions among the males; and they 

 flutter along the surface, hurrying through each others' ranks, 

 and splashing the water in all directions.' They are true 

 sea-birds, and pass almost their whole time on the waves, 

 floating about when not feeding, and taking their rest there 

 at night, 'rocked in the cradle of the deep.' 



In the winter season small flocks of thirty or forty indi- 

 viduals congregate to the number of five or six hundred, and 

 cover the surface of the land or water. 



Mr. Charles St. John has given a good account of the 

 habits of these birds. They swim well and dive expertly 

 for their food, one keeping watch above while the others are 

 below. They remain down for a considerable time, and when 

 feeding are constant in their descents, after each necessary 

 coming to the surface, dipping under, one after the other, 

 with a curious kind of movement. Thus they drift along 

 with the flowing tide, and ride at ease over the heavy surf, 

 or plunge into the midst of the wildest waves. 



'When a thin crust of ice forms during the night, the 

 female may be often seen breaking a way with her wings for 

 her young brood.' Their ordinary flights are of short extent, 

 and at no great height above the sea, into which they 

 suddenly drop their natural home. 'Unless it is obliged by 

 some sudden necessity to take wing, it does not prefer that 

 mode of changing its position.' 



They feed on small shell-fish, mollusca, Crustacea, shrimps, 

 and other marine insects, which they fish for during the 

 day, diving to a depth of from ten or twelve, to twenty or 

 twenty-five yards. When forced by severe weather to a 

 greater distance than ordinary from the shore, so as to be 

 obliged to dive to a still greater depth for their food, they 

 are said to become thin and weak. They appear also to 

 swallow sea-weed and small fragments of sand, and in the 

 breeding-season, when thrown in the way of vegetable diet, 



