ANATIN^ — THE DUCKS — PELiONETTA. 



101 



americana), are indiscriminately called " Gray. Coots ; " but some persons apply the 

 term Gray (Joot to the young and females of the Surf Duck only. 



In Europe this species appears to have been found only as an occasional and acci- 

 dental visitor. According to Mr. iSelby, specimens of this Duck have been taken on 

 the Shetland and Orkney islands. Others have been secured in different parts of 

 Scotland and England. Vieillot states that it sometimes apj)ears on the ( 'ust of 

 I'^rauce. A single example was taken in 1818 in Switzerland, and others are recorded 

 as coming from Germany and Scandinavia ; but these instances are few in number, 

 and the appearance of this species in any part of Europe is decidedly an uncommon 

 occurrence. 



It is cited by ]*rofessor Reinhardt as being a visitant in Greenland — where, how- 

 ever, only a few individuals are known to have been taken. It was found abundant 

 on the Mackenzie River by Mr. Ross ; Captain Rlakiston received a nund)er of speci- 

 mens from York Factory, on Hudson's Ray ; and j\lr. Mvirray also obtained it in the 

 same locality, where it appears only occasionally as a migrant. 



From September to A])ril the Surf Duck is common on the whole Atlantic coast, 

 from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, its presence apparently being regulated as nuich 

 by the abundance of its food as by the severity of the weather. Until midwinter the 

 flocks gradually move southward, their food being more abundant in warmer waters, 

 and after February as gradually find their way back. In April a general migration 

 northward becomes very percept?ble, and by the end of that month the immense pro- 

 cession of this very abundant species has passed, beyond the Bay of Fundy, toward 

 its breeding-places, only the crippled, immature, or superannuated individuals having 

 been left behind ; and these remain unmated in the more southern latitudes through 

 the Avhole summer. 



Mr. Giraud states that by the hunters of Long Island this species is known as the 

 '■ Spectacled Coot," and also as the " Surf Coot." It associates with the Velvet Duck, 

 and its habits are substantially the same as those of that species. He relates that 

 when at Montaidc I'oint, in the autumn of 1834, on walking out in the morning, after 

 a very stormy night, and looking up at the lighthouse, he was surprised to see a bird 

 suspended from the wire frame by which the glass is protected. On taking it down, 

 he found it to be a Surf Duck. The wind having been very high the night before, 

 and the water having doubtless become so rough that the bird was obliged to takt; 

 wing, it was attracted by the light, and flying with great force, thrust its head through 

 the wires, and in this situation was strangled. The flesh of the Surf Duck Giraud 

 found to be dark-colored and fishy. 



Sir John Richardson states that this bird seeks its food principally in the sea ; 

 that its flesh is oily and highly flavored ; and that he found it breeding on the Arctic 

 coast, from whence it migrated southward, in company with the Velvet and the Long- 

 tailed Ducks. In these migrations southward it stops both on the shores of Hudson's 

 Ray and on the lakes of the interior — at least as long as these remain open — feeding 

 on mollusca and shellfish. It is rare in Bermuda, there being only two instances 

 on record of its occurrence there — one in Hamilton Harbor, in January, 1847, and 

 another in the Pembroke Jlarshes, October, 1854. 



This species is as abundant on the Pacific as on the Atlantic coast. It was ob- 

 tained, with the eggs, at Sitka, by Rischoff, and 'Mr. Dall — although he did not fully 

 identify it — thinks that it is found at the mouth of the Yukon River. Mr. R. Browne 

 also met with it on the coast of Vancouver Island. 



Mr. Nelson mentions the Surf Duck as being a common winter resident upon Lake 

 Michigan, and says that it also occurs throughout the State of Illinois during that 



